


Fighting Our Enemy, Fighting Ourselves

by internallyscreamingdaily



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Development, Eventual Happy Ending, Family, Finishing some of the character arcs because the show didn't, Fluffy Ending, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Minor Violence, No Romance, References to Donnie's crush on April but no actual shipping, The Mutanimals make an appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 54,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24600037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/internallyscreamingdaily/pseuds/internallyscreamingdaily
Summary: The Kraang are up to no good, and it is up to the turtles to stop them, but it seems that this one will be more of a challenge. The Kraang bring something new, and the team is slowly tearing itself apart.
Comments: 20
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

"I… don't think that's going to work," Michelangelo said, looking uncertainly at his hotheaded brother.

Raphael was repeatedly stabbing along the sides of a forcefield that was blocking them from progressing in the hallway of the Kraang facility. "It－ will－ work－ if－you－try－hard－enough," was his reply, another stab between each word.

Donnie put a hand on Raph's shoulder and gently led him away from the wall, allowing himself room to get closer to it. "Raph, don't hurt yourself. I got this." He took his T-phone from his belt along with a wire, plugged it into a panel on the wall, and started working on the phone. Within seconds, the forcefield came down.

Donatello shot Raphael a smug grin, receiving a hand pushing him aside in response as Raph continued down the hall. Michelangelo grinned at the exchange between the two, admitting to himself that Donnie's tech was pretty cool－especially when it came in handy for ticking Raph off.

Leonardo signaled for them to move forward before dashing to his usual position in front of the team. He stopped at the next corner where hallways intersected and pressed his back against the wall, gesturing for his brothers to do the same. Raphael, already annoyed enough, gave Leo an irritated glare before stepping forward to advance. Leonardo pushed him back against the wall beside him and gave him a warning glare, drawing a sword.

Rhythmic electronic whirring and metallic footsteps drew closer, and soon, a group of eight patrolling kraangdroids passed in the hallway intersecting the one where the turtles were hiding. They took no notice to the ninjas, however, as their focus was straightforward and the ninjas against the walls in the corridor beside them made not a single movement that would attract their attention.

Once they were out of the kraangdroids' peripheral vision, Leo held a finger to his lips and then pointed in the direction where the bots had gone. His brothers nodded in understanding, then he led them out behind the patrol group. They picked off the kraangdroids one by one until they were all down, the Kraang not having realized that there were intruders in their lair until it was too late. They watched the pink brain blobs scurry away, exchanging alien cries, before turning to go in the direction from which the patrol group had come.

Passing an alarm on the wall just outside the intersection, Leo nudged Raphael with his elbow and inclined his head towards it. The words were never spoken, but the meaning of Leo's gesture was clear. Look at what the Kraang could have done had you decided to charge in instead of going with my plan.

Raphael adopted an unperturbed expression and shrugged, earning himself another disapproving glare.

The ninjas snuck forward, gliding silently over the metal floors with nothing to alert anyone that they were there but a subtle whoosh and a split second of their shadows flicking over the floor. They came to a door at the end of the hall. Leo again gestured for them to hold back before nearing it any more, but Raphael leaped towards it with his sais drawn. Something beeped, and several laser guns emerged from the walls and started shooting at the oncoming intruder. They didn't have long to fire, though, before a blur of red and green picked them off. With a smirk, Raph flicked a bit of machinery that was stuck on his sai at Leo. Leo batted the object out of the air as it sailed towards him, maintaining a death glare all the while.

A few seconds gave Donnie all the time he needed to bypass the door's code, and then they were in. They found spaces to hide behind crates and the like and each took a few moments to survey the scene.

There were about a hundred kraangdroids in the massive room, each busy with their own places at the control panels on the walls or at consoles. It would be hard to get into the next room at all, let alone without being noticed, especially with the next door all the way across the room.

"Okay, here's the plan," Leo whispered, gaze settling on the wires and pipes on the ceiling above them. "We climb across the ceiling to the other side, then we throw shurikens at the consoles and panels on this side to distract them while sneaking into the next room." He gestured to the high pile of crates beside them, which luckily was piled high enough for them to climb and then jump to the ceiling, and was constructed in such a way that they would be blocked from view while doing so.

One by one, they climbed the crates and started crawling upside-down on the wires and pipes that stretched across the ceiling.

Donatello chanced a glance at the kraangdroids below when they were about halfway across. They all still seemed immersed in their individual activities. So far, so good. Looking at the Kraang, he failed to notice that his foot had gotten tangled up in the wires. He felt them tug his foot and stopped to look at the mess, then back at his brothers. They were getting far ahead of him. He looked back down at the tangle of wires and began to shift his foot around in an attempt to free himself.

POP.

A glance ahead told him that one of the metal plates used to fasten the wires to the ceiling had come loose.

POP. POP. POP.

The plates clattered to the floor, attracting the attention of some kraangdroids before the wires snapped and Donnie came crashing to the ground. He chuckled nervously, feeling the pressure of the stares of both his brothers and a number of Kraang upon him.

"Kraang is to attack that which is known as turtles."

Leo, Mikey, and Raph dropped from the ceiling to take down the first kraangdroids that had started to attack their brother. Lasers flew everywhere, almost drowning out Donatello's cry of "Sorry, guys!"

Just as the first few dozen Kraang had fallen and it seemed like they were about to win, one sounded the alarm. The door from which they had come opened again and a towering biotroid stepped out. It stomped into the center of the room where Donnie stood.

The purple-banded turtle twirled his staff, extending the blade, and made a jab for the biotroid's chest, where the main circuits were located. With a wave of its hand, it reduced his bo staff to splinters.

"You have got to be kidding me," Donatello breathed.

As the biotroid made another swing, this time for his head, Raphael jumped in front of his weaponless brother and punched holes in the robot's hands with his sais, which, Donnie noted bitterly, didn't break upon contact. A few more strong jabs to the biotroid had it out of operation. Raphael looked at the pitiful half of a broken weapon in Donnie's hand. "The Kraang break that thing more than it breaks them."

"Oh, shut it."

In another part of the room, Mikey looked over a console. "There has to be something here that can help us…" He spotted a section on the console labeled EMERGENCY and studied the buttons under it. "Got it!" He slammed a button that seemed to draw his attention and waited for the results.

More laser guns descended from the ceiling and joined the Kraang in firing at them. An angry chorus of "MIKEY!" could be heard above the lasers.

Mikey laughed nervously and went back to taking kraangdroids down instead of looking at the consoles.

Leo noticed how quickly Mikey seemed to adjust to the lasers from the ceiling shooting at them, skillfully weaving through the field of beams like a dance he had practiced a thousand times and destroying Kraang all the while. It was infuriating to him that no one else was having as much ease dealing with the problem that he created.

More biotroids and Kraang entered the room.

"Ninjas, fall back! There's too many of them!"

One by one, they found their way out of the room of chaos. They ran back down the halls and out of the building, chased by kraangdroids all the way. Leonardo opened the door of the Shellraiser parked a distance outside and waited for all of his brothers to get in before boarding the vehicle himself, shutting the door, and driving away.

They lost what little Kraang were still chasing them within a minute of driving, yet everyone in the Shellraiser was silent.

Leo had a nagging feeling that this failed mission was going to bother them for longer than the usual one…


	2. Chapter 2

The turtles hadn't exchanged a word by the time they entered the lair. They went through the turnstiles and into the main room, each taking a spot relatively far from the others－Raph by the punching bag, Mikey on the couch, Leo in front of the TV, and Donnie started in the direction of his lab.

Raphael threw a few punches at the bag before letting out an aggravated groan. "Well, that sucked! Brilliant plan, Lame-o-nardo."

Leo shot a nasty look back at him. "How is this my fault? I'd have gotten you all through if you had just stuck with the plan."

"Well we did try to stick with your stupid plan, and it still failed. Maybe there were just some things you didn't take into account. Just admit that it was a stupid plan and I'll move past it."

"It was not a stupid plan!"

Raph shifted his stare to Donnie, who had stopped to listen before he had reached his lab. "And yet, one mistake made it all fall apart."

"It was not ONE mistake," Leo corrected. "Fighting the Kraang in that room was a decent backup plan until SOMEONE decided that it would be a good idea to have even more lasers firing at us!"

"I panicked, okay! I thought it might help!" Mikey exclaimed.

Raph scoffed. "Well, thinking obviously isn't your thing."

"Don't try something crazy in the middle of the fight," Leo added, "Or better yet, leave all the brilliant ideas to Donnie. At least he doesn't seem to mess them up as bad."

"Well, Donnie's the reason I panicked in the first place! It didn't help that Donnie's weapon kinda exploded on us and that he was defenseless against the biotroid!"

"Hey! I am not defenseless without my bo staff!"

Raph chuckled coldly. "And yet I had to swoop in and save your sorry－"

"Shut it. It doesn't help us that you're always charging in headfirst to dangers you don't know. You could have had the Kraang sound the alarm before we even got as far as we did!"

"I was fine with－"

"Don't you see that－"

"If you guys had just listened－"

"Well, that's not MY fault!"

"If someone hadn't had the 'brilliant idea'－"

"You don't even know what you're talking about!"

"SILENCE!"

The four turtles fell quiet at the thump of a cane, each turning to look at the entrance to the dojo, where their very disappointed father stood.

Splinter walked over to where they were and glared down at each of them. "It seems that you all made your mistakes on this mission. Blaming others to cover your own faults not only limits you from learning from them; it makes the other question their abilities as well. Do not do more damage than has already been done." He looked over all of their expressions, then left them and went back into the dojo.

The turtles scowled at each other. Raph stormed off in the direction of his room. Donnie left to go to his lab. Mikey stood and went to the kitchen. Leo, now alone in the room, sighed to himself.

"They don't get it. They never do, and of course, they blame everything on me because of it!" Raph paced around his room, arms folded. "You understand, don't you Spike?" he asked the dusty plate in the corner, which was adorned by a single lettuce leaf that had long since shriveled and dried. "Spike, do nothing if you understand me."

…

"That's what I thought." He made a few more lines back and forth before sitting on his bed. He continued to talk to the corner in the room although he never directly looked at it. "Everyone thinks that I'm taking unnecessary risks. That I'm putting them all in danger by charging in." He reclined on the bed, arms still crossed over his chest. "I mean, I can see what they're saying, but I don't－it's not－ ugh. It's just… easier to know that I'm heading into whatever we're facing, that I'm the one who is going to take the worst of it head-on and that they aren't going to… but if that doesn't work then… you know what? Fine! Fine! If they want me to stop so bad, I'll stop! If Lame-o-nardo thinks he can get us out of trouble by planning out each step of the way, I'll go along with it! Better than to let the impulsive hothead try to help, right? Better than to let him do something stupid and hurt us all, right?"

He turned so that he couldn't see the plate in the corner anymore and huffed. A few seconds passed, then he lifted his head. "I'm sorry, Spike. I just… perfect Leonardo seems to have his act together and it really gets on my nerves. He hardly seems to mess up or… and I just want to make sure they're safe but it seems I'm doing the opposite by… and it's not like I'm not trying." He laughed bitterly to himself. "Every time I seem to have a good pace, I just rush too soon and someone gets hurt because of it. Leo… is always patient. He always knows what he's doing. I've tried. I've tried so hard. Maybe… I was just always going to mess everything up."


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey guys!" April greeted as she stepped through the turnstiles the next day, her bag over her shoulder and a welcoming smile on her face.

Raphael sat alone on the couch, reading a magazine. He gave a halfhearted response of "Hey, April."

The lack of enthusiasm in her response greeting immediately cued her in to the fact that something was off. She glanced around the strangely quiet room. "Um… where are the guys?"

"Lame-o-nardo is still meditating in the dojo, Mikey's in his room, and your dork's in the lab."

April wasn't sure how she felt about Raph calling Donnie 'her dork', but she caught the way he emphasized each of his brother's names with an air of chilliness－ especially Leo's. She put two and two together, and deciding that Donnie would be a less eruptive source to ask her questions, she headed to his lab. Donatello was seated at his usual place behind his desk.

"Hey, Donnie!"

Donatello looked up at her from his book on myology, a blank expression turning into a warm one. "Oh… h-hey, April."

"How are you?" she inquired, using a clear space on his desk to lean against and prop her elbows on.

He averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh. I'm, uh," he cleared his throat, "I'm… alright."

"Hmm. You too, huh?"

His eyes flicked to hers. "What do you mean?"

"Raph seemed kinda… off, too."

"Oh yeah?" He found his page in the book.

"Mhm." She waited a while for him to explain, but when he didn't speak, she decided to prompt him with, "Did… something happen?"

"Uhh… we… went to a Kraang hideout yesterday…"

"...And?..."

"Things… didn't go as planned. Nobody got hurt and the Kraang weren't up to anything remarkably sinister, but… I don't know. Everyone just got on each other's nerves and we had an argument when we got back last night."

"Oh. Bad argument?"

"Sort of. Raph and Leo didn't seem to be any more fired up at each other than they usually are during fights, but Mikey got involved too, and well, he said some things that were pretty… well…"

"Well, Donnie's the reason I panicked in the first place! It didn't help that Donnie's weapon kinda exploded on us and that he was defenseless against the biotroid!"

Donnie cleared his throat, set his book on the desk, and met April's gaze, sitting back in his chair. "Well, I don't need to go into that." He sat forward in his chair and propped his forearms on the desk, lacing his fingers together. "How are you?"

"Oh!" Her eyebrows shot up and she reached into her bag. "I almost forgot why I was here!" She placed her laptop on the desk and opened it.

Donnie stood and circled the desk to see her screen.

"Remember the website I was on to see if anyone was posting any information that could lead us to my dad when he was kidnapped by the Kraang? Well, I checked back, and something interesting was on here. I'm… not quite sure what it is… I was hoping you could help with that…"

"Well, of course!"

She brought up the said item onto her screen. It was a chart of some sort, but the words in the boxes were in the Kraangs' language.

Donnie went back to his computer. "Read me the URL of that website. I might be able to run that thing through a translator."

Minutes later, they both had their faces inches away from Donnie's computer screen as it loaded the translation. The computer made a beeping sound, and the new version of the chart popped up on the screen.

"This is… a shipment chart," Donnie deduced. "All of the locations are in this part of New York."

"Will it be of any use?"

"Will it－? Yes! All of these shipments have yet to be made. We can intercept all of these shipments and stop the Kraang from doing whatever they're trying to do! And hopefully figure out exactly what they're doing, based on the contents of the shipments. April, this is fantastic! You're a genius!" He brought her into a tight hug, realizing only a second too late that it might have been too bold of him.

He relaxed when she giggled and hugged him back. "Glad I could help." They let go.

He read and reread over the shipping schedule, so she decided that it would be best to leave him to his thoughts. She would come back another time; hopefully the guys would have some things straightened out by then.


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure this is the place? Nothing's happening."

"Patience, Raph. They'll be here. According to the shipment log, they were due to receive something here about two minutes ago. Something should be coming any minute."

The turtles were perched upon the ceiling joists of a small warehouse. They were all looking down at the room below, which had some crates and furniture in it, but a large area in the center was open. There were three garage doors on one wall, and a regular door on the opposite side. The room was dimly lit in yellow lights, which did not do a very good job in revealing the room, but very clearly illuminated the distasteful amount of dust floating in the air.

Donatello fought to keep in a disgusted noise as he shifted positions on the joists, covering himself in the thick coat of dust that had been on the untouched area. It had an unpleasant sandy texture to it, and it was all he could do to stop himself from furiously dusting himself off and creating a lot of unnecessary noise.

Michelangelo seemed unfazed by the grime. He was laid chest-down on the joist and had his elbows propped on it and his head held in his hands. He swung his feet idly in the air, his eyes scanning the room below from what he could see of it in the spaces between the joists. "Ugh, so bored," he muttered.

"You're telling me," Raph replied. Something in the room caught his gaze. "Scratch that."

Two kraangdroids walked through the door and stopped at the edge of the open space.

Raphael, who had been sitting on the front of his feet, stood, drew his sais, and prepared to jump down.

Leo held out a hand to stop him, halfway expecting him to jump anyway, but he looked at Leo, then at the room again, and waited.

The second garage door whirred open, and a van pulled into the open space. It stopped and then its headlights dimmed, signaling that it had been turned off. Two more kraangdroids, these ones in their human forms, stepped out of the driver and passenger seats and circled to the back of the van. They slid the door open, and the dim yellow room was immediately cast in bright green.

Donnie gasped. "That's a lot of mutagen."

Each kraangdroid unloaded as many canisters of mutagen as they could handle and carried them towards the door.

Leo gave the signal for them to move. They all jumped down and chose a different kraangdroid to attack.

The Kraang that Donnie, Raph, and Mikey chose to attack all readied themselves for the fight. The one Leo had gone after, being closest to the door, made a run for it.

Mikey swung his nunchucks wildly around the Kraang, trying to distract it, before sending a hard blow across its metallic face. The robot head shot off at the impact and the droid crumpled to the ground.

Donnie used his bo staff to flick each canister that his Kraang was holding out of its hands before catching them and gently setting them aside. Once the Kraang was out of mutagen, he attacked it harder, and it too was soon on the ground.

Raphael charged at the Kraang he had chosen and punched through it from behind with both sais. The canisters of mutagen tumbled out of its hands and went flying across the room. Time seemed to slow for Raph as he realized where one of the canisters was headed. "Leo, look out!"

Leo, who had been pursuing his own kraangdroid to the door, looked behind him at his brother's cry. One of the canisters landed a few feet away from him and split in two, spewing mutagen everywhere. A splash of it sailed right towards him. His eyes grew wide and he jumped away from the door. The drop of mutagen sailed closer, closer, then missed his foot by a hair. He crashed to the ground with an "Oof!"

The droid that he had been chasing slammed the door, safely out of his reach.

"Nice going, Raph!" Donnie yelled.

Leo lifted himself onto his knees and looked behind him. He stared at the speck of mutagen on the wall. That was so close.

The door opened again and more Kraang poured into the room.

"This is not good!"

"Brilliant observation, Mikey!" Donnie yelled back. Distracted, he didn't catch how Michelangelo's expression darkened when he made this remark.

Bursts of lasers shot at them. They dodged and ducked and made an occasional strike at their opponents, but it didn't seem to be working. More and more Kraang pooled into the room, giving them less and less space to move around.

"How many are there?" Leo asked.

Raph stabbed a robot through its mechanical eye. "How should I know!"

"Oh, not again!" Donnie wailed.

Mikey glanced back to see Donnie holding the smoldering remains of his weapon.

Donnie didn't overlook how Mikey stepped closer to him and started covering him when he saw that he was without his bo staff again.

The kraangdroids just kept coming and coming. The turtles couldn't even attack anymore; it was taking all of their attention just to defend themselves from the oncoming lasers.

"Ninjas, fall back!"

Raph scoffed. "Again?"

"Yes, again! Now let's move, or we'll all be laser-fried turtle kebabs!"

"Hmm. I wonder if cooking something with a laser would give it a different taste, like a grill or－"

Raph found a gap in defending himself from the lasers wide enough to whack Mikey in the back of the head.

"Let's go!" Leo shouted.

They raced for the open garage door. Donnie paused to snatch a canister of mutagen from the back of the truck.

"Come on, Donnie!" Mikey was waiting for him, but Leo and Raph had already found enough time to run outside.

"Let's go!" Donatello grabbed his baby brother's arm and the two of them raced through the garage door.

Raph and Leo slammed it shut the second they were outside, cutting off the torrent of lasers that was following them.

"That… was too close."


	5. Chapter 5

When they got back to the lair, Donatello immediately went into his lab. He had a strange feeling about this mutagen. Something about it was just… off. He decided to test it, just in case. It would delay what he had to do later, anyway. Donnie was no procrastinator, but he wasn't exactly eager to explain to Splinter that he'd need a new staff two nights in a row. It wasn't his fault that the staff was so easy to break compared to his brothers' weapons, it was just… delicate. Fragile.

Weak.

He shook his head to dismiss the thought and sat down at his desk. His weapon may have been breakable, but it wasn't weak. It just required the right technique… yes, that was it. It just needed some skill behind it. It was a beautiful weapon, capable of so much if only used with the right strategy. It was sort of like him, he supposed. Maybe not the strongest or the one that stood out in the bunch, but he had talent. It simply had to be used in the right way. It just had to be used smartly. See, it was smart. He was smart. It required thought, but it wasn't weak. No, it wasn't weak! It wasn't, he was sure of it! It couldn't be－ it wasn't－ he wasn't…

He refocused himself on the tests he needed to conduct on the mutagen. This wasn't the time to be thinking about things like that.

"Great job, Leo. You failed. Again."

"Oh right," Leo snapped. "Because it was all my fault. It had nothing to do with how you almost spilled mutagen on me. Seriously, Raph! You couldn't control yourself; you just had to hit the Kraang so hard that it flew everywhere, including almost into me! I could have gotten that Kraang before he alerted anyone had you been sensible! Just because you're sensitive about everyone thinking you're weak doesn't mean you have to bulldoze everything in your path!"

Raph's hands clenched into fists. His knuckles cracked and grew white. "Oh, I'm sorry, fearless! I wasn't aware that you wouldn't be able to take down one kraangdroid with some things flying in the air. Oh no! Obstacles! It's almost like in, I don't know, a battle? Who would have thought!"

Leo jabbed a finger at him. "That 'obstacle' was mutagen! You. Almost. Mutated me! What part of that do you not understand? What part of that merits an excuse?"

Raph snorted. "Couldn't even take down one lousy Kraang."

Leo drew a sword. "Excuse me?"

Raphael responded by drawing both sais, forehead vein bulging. "Maybe I'm not the one who has to worry about being weak around here. Maybe someone else just wants to seem like he's got everything under control, even when he knows he's never going to be good enough."

Focused on each other, it went unnoticed when Donnie froze at this on his way to the kitchen.

Leonardo's face was growing red. He circled Raphael like a hungry shark, maintaining eye contact all the while. "What are you saying?"

Raph smirked. "You know exactly what I'm saying. All those extra hours you put to training. To meditating. You're trying to make up for something you're not." He gave half an upwards nod. "And you never will be."

They raced to meet each other in the middle of the living room. Swords joined sais with a horrible clang. Their arms and weapons shook with the struggle of pushing the other back.

Raph had a full grin on his face now, pleased by his brother's response. "You're not perfect. All that work, all that training, and you're still messing up. You're still leading us into danger. You're still failing."

Leo withdrew his swords and stepped to the side, allowing Raph to stumble forward at the sudden change in weight. He swung a kick at Raph's knees, but Raphael recovered too quickly and flipped over his head. Taken by surprise at this, Leo hesitated long enough for Raph to be able to strike him across the shoulder with the butt of his sai. Leo clenched his teeth to muffle a yell of surprise.

Raph swept over the ground with one leg in an attempt to knock Leonardo off of his feet, but Leo jumped over his foot. Raph rolled over his own shoulder and landed in a fighting stance.

Leo brought both swords down at the same place over Raph's head. Raph caught a sword in each sai and twisted the sais so that the swords were stuck in them. Raphael attempted to bring the swords out of Leo's grasp by pulling them side to side while Leonardo tried to free his katanas.

"My plans would work－ maybe they wouldn't fail－ if you would just listen to me! Why do you always feel the need to make sure something goes wrong?"

Raph laughed. "Fearless, I have tried to follow you. Even then you can't get anything done. Stop blaming your failures on me because you're not enough. You were never meant to be leader."

"And that means you were? If anyone's blaming here, it's you. You're jealous. Always were. You were always jealous that I'm cool-headed enough to lead. If you were trying to follow my lead when we failed, then it wasn't because I was inadequate." He pulled his katanas free with a final tug and went in for another jab, this one at Raphael's chest.

Raph ducked and held the sword between his sais above him. He side-kicked Leo square in the chest, forcing him back and making him let go of the sword, which Raph tossed to the side.

Leo brandished his remaining katana. "It was because even though you were trying, you couldn't control yourself. You tried to destroy more than you needed to, tried to prove you were powerful, your recklessness was a distraction. You overdid it. You went too far. And your show of strength became the door to exploiting your weakness. "

Raph's smirk fell. It was only for a split second, but Leo grinned when he saw it.

"You're never going to be enough," Raph spat.

"You're never going to gain control," was Leo's reply. "How could you command the team when you can't even control yourself?"

Raph moved so fast Leo didn't have time to react. He brought his elbow across Leo's face. Leo staggered back. Raph sent a snap kick at the top of Leo's plastron and then Leonardo was on the ground.

"And I could do that without my sais, even while you had your sword." It was already out of his mouth by the time he realized what he had just said. He had just proved Leonardo's point－ trying to make up for his impulsiveness with shows of brute strength. Choosing not to dwell on it, he stormed off to his room.

Leonardo watched him go, staring daggers into the back of his head as he retreated.


	6. Chapter 6

Mikey hadn't talked to anyone in a while and it was starting to wear on him. He liked being around his brothers, but recently it had been hard to face them. What they had said to him constantly gnawed at his nerves and repeated in the back of his mind. He had stayed cooped up in his room as much as possible with only the company of Ice Cream Kitty, afraid that if he showed his face anywhere else, he would face more criticism from his brothers.

He was well aware that he wasn't the brightest bulb, but he still had ideas. He still had things to contribute to the team. He messed up a lot, sure, but his brothers didn't always need to point that out. He always felt a bit of regret at screwing something up, even without being reprimanded. To remind him that he was faulty was unnecessary; to tell him that he would be better off just to keep all of his ideas to himself was harsh.

Michelangelo had always looked up to Donatello. It was incredible how Donnie could take an idea for an invention out of his head and figure out how to make it work. Donatello was smart enough to figure out how to bring an idea to life. He didn't just dream about things, he made them happen, and Mikey found that astounding. It was inspiring. Even when Donnie ranted about machines and physics and scientific nonsense, Michelangelo listened. He didn't listen to understand, for he knew that most of the time he couldn't, but to see how amazing his brother really was. He might not have understood the formulas and theories that spewed out of his genius brother's mouth, but he understood what he was saying.

He understood the light that flashed through Donnie's eyes when he explored the possibilities of what a new idea could bring. He understood the fast pace at which Donatello spoke, his mouth struggling to keep up with the million miles an hour his brain was working at, racing in so many different directions at once, enchanted by the complexity of a dream. He understood how Donnie had to take more breaks than he would like to for short breaths between sentences, heart beating hard, working to keep up with the level of oxygen he needed. He understood how Donnie's hands shook ever so slightly when he shared his ideas, fighting to keep in the immense wave of energy that came with exploring something interesting and new. He understood how Donatello paced around the room as if mapping the branches of the new thought, suddenly pausing then turning and racing in another direction as one train of thought died out and another began. He understood all of these things because he had experienced them himself so many times.

Which is why it hurt him all the more when Raph and Leo told him to leave all of the ideas to Donnie; that he should just keep to himself because Donatello didn't mess up as much when he got a new thought. He wanted to be able to do as much as Donnie. He just wasn't smart enough. But did that mean that he should never pursue an idea when he had one? Did that mean that he should just keep quiet and let people who weren't screw-ups explore the world around them? Was he just meant to spend his life silent while everyone told him what to do and how to do it?

He sighed. This train of thought was getting out of hand. He needed to talk to someone. While having Ice Cream Kitty beside greatly helped to relieve his loneliness, she could not talk. He needed to have a conversation with someone.

Leo and Raph were not options at the moment. He thought that seeing them, given his current situation, would make things worse. He scooped up Ice Cream Kitty and returned her to the freezer before stepping into Donnie's lab, where the genius turtle was working with the mutagen samples under the microscope. Deciding that he needed some inspiration, Michelangelo chose to start a conversation with Donnie about what he was working on. Hopefully, Donatello would show the extent of his interest in the work he was doing.

"Whatcha up to, D?" He asked, stopping at his brother's desk and flashing him a big grin for show.

"I had a bad feeling about the mutagen shipment we tried to stop yesterday," Donnie replied, not looking up from his microscope. "I picked up a canister of mutagen and decided to test it, and, well, there's definitely something different about it. Something has been introduced into the mutagen, but I can't figure out what. It… doesn't match any element I've ever seen. I tested them. This is something new. A new substance. I would probably be able to tell you what the Kraang wanted it to do in the mutagen had it been an element on the periodic table, but as I said, it isn't. I'm… stuck." Donatello looked up at Mikey for a split second, then his eyes darted away and he rubbed the back of his neck.

Michelangelo raised what would have been his eyebrows had he been human. Something stumped Donatello so much that he could only explain what he was doing for that short amount of time? This certainly was new.

Deciding that he still wanted this conversation to continue a little while longer, Mikey asked, "So, how did you test for these elements in the ooze?"

Donnie met his gaze. "Well, for some elements, you simply have to test how basic or acidic the substance is. Thanks to test strips designed especially for such tests, that's relatively easy. You have to dip the test strips in the substance and then compare them on a color chart to see where on the scale…"

Michelangelo listened as Donatello continued on his rant. Not for understanding his words, but for understanding his body language. The elements on the periodic table had long since been review material for Donnie, so it didn't excite him as much as Mikey would have pleased, but he was still focused on the topic he was speaking about, and right now, for Mikey, that was enough.


	7. Chapter 7

Donatello stepped into the dojo. Enough was enough. Splinter was right. He had been too quick to blame the mission's failure on Raphael. He admitted to himself he would not have pointed out Raph's mistakes so easily had Raph's fighting style not bothered him before their argument. Sure, Raph was impulsive, hotheaded, and exercised more force than was reasonable, but he was strong. That was for sure.

Raphael had always had a certain confidence in his weapon that Donatello never did. Like its wielder, the sai was strong and dependable. Raph never had to worry about his weapons shattering into a million pieces in the middle of a fight. Whenever he needed to rely on them to stay in one piece, they did. Not only that, he had the same confidence in himself. Leaping into battles prematurely may not have been a wise decision on his part, but he did so anyway because he placed enough trust in himself to finish whatever fight he ran into. It could be one enemy or twenty, but if he thought he could take them, he would.

Which is why it bothered Donatello all the more that he could only take on so many opponents at a time. Raph had no trouble with it, and he hardly seemed to put his brain in the fight! Why was Donatello always so uncertain even when fighting only a few enemies? He never exactly had the reliability he needed in his weapon when it came to it－ or himself, for that matter. All the hours he spent in his lab were productive indeed, but each hour in there and not the dojo was another punch he would fail to counter with a block, another ounce he wouldn't be able to carry, another second it would take him to run from point A to B.

But he decided that that would all change today.

He had enough of being a liability to the team. They always seemed to cover him when his bo broke, taking on the enemies Donnie should have been able to fight off himself. That distracted them from their own goals in the fight. He hated being a distraction from their fighting. He hated being someone they always had to risk their own responsibilities, their own lives for. All because they thought he couldn't do it himself, and perhaps, sometimes, they were right. But he was going to change that. He would choose a new weapon.

Donatello perused the weapons on the walls of the dojo. His eyes passed over the yari and naginata blades that were displayed but decided against them. They were too much like his own weapon and probably shared the same flaws with it that he wanted to be rid of.

Donnie opened the cupboard in the wall near the yari and naginata blades. One weapon immediately caught his eye. He reached into the cupboard, and with some difficulty, lifted it out.

He held it, one hand on the leather grip and the other on the staff near its head, struggling a little not to lean forward with the sheer weight of it.

The spiked mace which he held had all of the qualities he was looking for. It was strong, formidable, and it would take a literal ton of weight and force to break it upon impact. His eyes scanned the weapon as he rotated it in his hands, contemplating every detail about it. This just might work.

Except… he didn't feel right about it. It was almost identical to the one Slash had used to club him and Mikey within an inch of their lives. Whether or not Slash had changed, carrying this thing around would be a reminder of the day he had been too weak to stop someone from hurting him and those he cared about, the very thing he wanted to forget. Besides, it was too heavy. Even after holding it for just a few minutes, Donatello's arms began to grow tired. He didn't want to always have to lug this thing around, did he? He shuddered at the very thought of how his spine would suffer if he chose to carry this around with him all the time. Maybe he would keep looking.

He put the mace back and continued his search. It wasn't long before another weapon caught his eye.

He pulled a chigiriki off the wall and contemplated the object the same way he had done the mace. It didn't have nearly the weight of the mace, and the metal chain and ball would add some potential destructiveness he hadn't had with his bo. He looked over the weapon, the staff attached to the chain and metal ball at the end. He held the staff part of it at an angle and tested the weapon by making small circles with his arms the same way Mikey did when spinning his nunchucks. The chain spun in a grey blur at the end of the staff. Still spinning it, Donnie swept the chigiriki from side to side. It wouldn't be too hard to learn how to use it; it was pretty similar to his bo.

He stopped. Too similar. He looked down at the staff of the chigiriki. Wood. Same as his bo. It would break just the same. He set the chigiriki back in its place and kept looking.

Donnie searched the weapons in the cupboard yet again. None them hanging in it seemed to draw his attention. As he scanned over them another time, a glint in the far corner of the cupboard caught his eye. He reached into the dark and pulled out two items that had not been hanging like the rest of the weapons, but laying off to the side.

He held one of the items in each hand and brought them into the light to inspect them. He recognized them instantly as hu tou gou, or hook swords.

Each of them had a leather handle, which was the only safe spot to hold them by. Everywhere else was a blade of some sort. The on the bottom near the handle, the tip went out about three inches before narrowing into a spike. The blade on the opposite side of the handle was quite a bit longer. It had a few feet of blade before curving into a hook that could be used to trip an enemy or link the two swords together for an elaborate attack. On either side of the leather handle, a small section of metal protruded at a ninety-degree angle, both in the same direction as the hook was. These two sections of metal were joined by a crescent moon-shaped blade that curved outwards so that the tips of the moon could be used as small spikes against the wielder's opponent.

Donatello contemplated these new weapons. They were metal and would not break nearly as easily as the chigiriki or bo, but were also light enough that they would not be detrimental to his health if he carried them with him all the time.

He held the hu tou gou in his hands and tested them with a few practice jabs and swings. Not bad.

He remembered how Splinter had demonstrated these weapons once. Splinter had held the handle of one sword and hooked the ends of the two together before swinging the joined weapons over his head. Didn't seem too hard.

Donatello stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth in concentration. He linked the hooks of the swords together and let go of the handle of one. Using the sword he still had his grip on, he slowly swirled the second sword around and raised it over his head. Not so hard.

He chuckled to himself, pleased with his progress.

Donnie decided that he had done enough of this exercise for now and raised his other hand to catch the swinging sword. He closed his hand as it came around again and gave a small yelp of pain. He let the sword clatter to the ground, a bit of blood on its blade, and stared down at his own hand, which was bleeding from two cuts where he had attempted to close his hand around the blade. He had caught the sword, but not at the handle. Cursing himself for his carelessness, he scooped up the swords and put them back into their place in the cupboard.

Donnie wasn't done with the hu tou gou; they were the weapon he was looking for. But he would need training if he were to use them properly, and that would mean sacrificing some of the time in his lab, sacrificing the time working on the mutagen. He decided that it was worth it, though. What was a little time in his lab compared to his efficiency on the team?

He left the dojo to find some antiseptic, promising himself to come back another time, when he had read up more on his chosen weapon.

He had found the doorway to not being so weak. He wasn't going to give it up that easily.


	8. Chapter 8

The Shellraiser raced down the city streets again the next night.

"So, you have another boneheaded plan to fail us again?" Raph asked from inside. "Or are you just putting us on a mission for the third night in a row for some weird team-building exercise none of us wants a part of?"

Leo's grip on the steering wheel tightened. "We have to stop the Kraang," He replied. "Donnie said there's something new in the mutagen, which means the little brain blobs are up to no good."

Raph held his hand to his mouth in mock surprise. "What? The Kraang? No good? I thought that they'd be out visiting sick people and giving children Choco-Logs."

"Mmm," Mikey said. "Choco-Logs are delicious! Although I don't think the Kraang would be giving them out, Raph..." He looked at his feet. "It seems a bit too nice for them."

Raphael didn't even bother hitting Mikey on the back of the head. He just shot his little brother a disappointed look.

The Shellraiser turned into an alley and stopped.

Leonardo stood. "We're here. This is the place where the rest of the mutagen was to be shipped. Donnie, you brought it?"

Donatello held up a vial of a black substance and nodded. "If we can put this into the mutagen, it should contaminate it to the point they can't use or clean it."

"Alright, team. Let's go."

Swiftly, the four exited the Shellraiser and dodged into the shadows. They gathered by the building, their backs to the wall, and turned to Leo for further instructions. He pointed upward before slipping his shinobi claws over his hands and proceeding to scale the wall.

It wasn't a quick task. The building was quite tall and the windows were all several stories up, but eventually, they made it to an entrance and observed the room around them. The atmosphere of the building told them they were in the right place. Veins of a glowing bright pink substance lined the walls, their contents probably providing the energy that powered any Kraang facility. Other than the ominous glowing ducts, the room was pretty dull. It was filled with monochromatic desks and tables.

"Okay Donnie," Leo whispered, "Any idea where they'd keep the mutagen?"

"I'd guess on the higher stories," Donatello replied. "This place seems to be disguised under the pretenses of being an office, and if it's anything like TCRI, then their human workers would only have access to the lower levels, while they carry out their less well-known plans on the higher ones." He noted how Mikey tensed at the mention of TCRI and turned to his younger brother. "Don't worry, it's a smaller building. Shouldn't be that hard to get to the mutagen."

Leonardo peeked out the room's door and waved for them to follow him. They snuck to the end of the hallway and stopped. Leo glanced around the next corner and gestured for them to wait until a patrol had passed. He then ran to the stairs and held the door open for his brothers to sneak into the staircase. It vaguely registered in his mind that the Kraang patrol that had passed them was still continuing to the opposite end of the hallway. Strange. Usually Raphael would have taken them out from behind once they had passed.

The thought quickly vanished from his mind when the red-clad turtle passed him after Donnie and Mikey, and he refocused his attention on closing the stairway door behind the four of them without making a sound.

A tiring amount of stairs later, they were at the top of the building.

"Chances are, they'll keep their most important projects here, furthest from human eyes," Donnie said.

"Which will also mean the security will be heavier, so stay on your toes, ninjas." Leonardo signaled for Raphael to stand beside him, and indicated that Michelangelo and Donatello were to follow.

Leo flung the door open and charged out of the staircase. As he had suspected, the room was filled with Kraangdroids, all hovering about the giant vat of mutagen that dominated the center of the room, at least two stories high. Numerous pairs of pink robot eyes focused on the turtles.

"Booyakasha!" Mikey yelled as he jumped into the air. Lasers flashed by him, but none quite kept up.

Leonardo started to clear a path in the crowd for Donnie to get to the mutagen. Raphael was right behind him, doing the same.

Donnie looked at Raph and Leo as they stationed themselves on either side of him, using their weapons only to attack nearby bots and deflect incoming laser blasts. He sighed and stared at the ground. Didn't anyone trust him to take care of himself? "ACK!" he cried as Leo pushed him aside, diverting a laser beam that would have hit him squarely in the back of his head.

"Pay attention, Donnie!"

The purple-banded turtle sighed. Maybe they had a reason not to. Blushing, he hurried to follow his leader's advice. Maybe if he did this quickly, his slip-up would be easily forgotten. "Up there! I should be able to put it into the mutagen from that opening!"

Leo followed his genius brother's gesture to the top of the vat. He nodded to the purple-clad turtle, then to Raphael, then began to fight his way towards a ledge that would allow them to climb the enormous tank of mutagen. Upon getting closer to the ledge, however, he realized that it would not be high enough for Donatello to jump to the top of the vat from.

Leonardo noticed that Mikey wasn't with them, but in a different part of the room, taking down Kraangdroids left and right. He had a space cleared out for himself to fight and seemed to have no trouble swinging his nunchucks every which way to misdirect the bots, giving himself enough time to dispose of those in front of him before moving on to the next round.

"Mikey! Get Donnie to the top of the tank!"

Michelangelo used one nunchuck to fend off the attacking bots while he threw his other one, in kusarigama form, to hook around the rim of the vat. He took a running start and swung onto the ledge where Donatello was waiting before helping him climb to the top.

Leo took a second to note how instantly and effortlessly his brother had switched tasks before continuing to defend the ground by the ledge.

Donnie reached the tank's rim and fished for the vial of murky substance in his belt. He tipped the vial into the mutagen and watched as the substance spread in a darkening cloud, turning glowing green into muddy grey. "Got it! Let's get out of here!"

No one needed to be told twice. They raced for the door, and after seeing to it that all three of his brothers were safely in the stairwell, Leo slammed it behind them, cutting off the torrent of lasers.

"Quickly, before they call for reinforcements!" Leonardo said.

They practically flew down the stairs to the floor from which they had come, and only stopped when they were in the hallway containing the entrance to the room where they'd accessed the building.

"Well," Leo said, a grin growing on his face, "About time we had a victory."

Michelangelo mirrored his grin with a nod. Then he looked behind Leo and it fell from his face, and his pupils shrunk to pinpoints.

Leo heard Mikey yell a warning at the same time a laser shot rang out.

"AH!"

Raphael stumbled forward and collapsed, letting Leo and Donnie see the Kraangdroid patrol that had shot him.

Leo hadn't even thought about the patrol on this level. Wouldn't Raph have taken them out as he passed?

Leo then remembered noting that Raph surprisingly hadn't trashed the Kraangdroids when they had come up and cursed himself for forgetting it. And he had let his guard down in an enemy lair!

Donatello tried to help Raph up, but Raphael brushed him off. Donnie let out a relieved breath upon realizing that Raphael maintained his tough demeanor. Alarm immediately returned to his mind when he noticed that the red-clad turtle winced while doing so.

Mikey reduced the pair of Kraangdroids to fragments.

"Let's go," Leo said.

They climbed out of the window, down the wall, and into the Shellraiser. Leonardo immediately started it and drove away. He had made the mistake of hanging around an enemy lair longer than necessary once today.

"Where did it hit you?" Donnie asked, kneeling beside Raph's chair.

Leo's stomach churned at the poorly masked concern in his question. His knuckles tightened around the steering wheel when Donatello hissed- the injury Raph showed him couldn't have been insignificant.

Leonardo thought through the events of the fight. Not one time had Raph recklessly rushed in or tried to take on more than he could handle. He gritted his teeth and internally cursed himself. Had he been foolish to ignore Raphael's accusations of him being a poor leader? He sighed. "How does it look, Donnie?"

"I'm not sure," Donatello said. "I'll have to examine the burn with some tools I have in my lab before I say. But I can tell you from experience, getting hit by one of those lasers is no small deal. It hurt. A lot." He looked Raphael in the eye and his voice grew stern. "So don't try to say you're not hurt, don't push yourself, and tell me if it gets any worse. Got it?"

Raph groaned at this instruction.

Donnie took his response as a good thing. It at least told him that Raph was going to take his advice, however reluctantly.

Leo, on the other hand, strangely found himself hoping for Raph to argue against this order, although he couldn't place why. Raphael's unwillingness to fight it was disconcerting.

Mikey drummed his fingers together in the heavy silence that followed. He stared at the screens showing the streets passing by, and somehow found a way to talk about a restaurant's sign and how it reminded him of a really good comic he had read once. He spent minutes rambling on about whatever topic he thought of next, and though none of his brothers joined in his conversation, they were grateful that he was keeping the silence at bay.

When the Shellraiser was parked safely beside the turnstiles, Leo entered the lair with the bitter thought that although they had won the battle, they had more problems now than when they had left.


	9. Chapter 9

The four proceeded to the lab. Donnie pulled his chair out from where it was tucked into the desk and gestured for Raph to take a seat. The red-clad turtle did so with a humph and crossed his arms over his chest.

While Donatello fetched the necessary supplies, Leo placed himself by his injured brother. Mikey knelt on the opposite end of the desk, folding his arms on the surface and resting a concerned face on them.

Donnie slid aside some beakers on his workspace to rest the textbook he had selected from his cabinet. He turned the chair so that Raph's back was to him and clicked a flashlight on.

"Hmm," he said to break the silence as he examined the burned back of his brother's neck. "Flex your toes."

Raphael's brow creased at this order, but he did so anyway.

"Okay, now your ankles," Donatello instructed. "Fingers, elbows."

Raph complied.

"Shoulders."

At this last order, the wounded turtle's gaze flicked to his baby brother, who was staring at him with hopeful puppy-dog eyes.

Leo started. "Oh! Uh, Mikey. Could you, um, get the antiseptic from the bathroom cabinet?"

Michelangelo sprang to his feet. "Aye aye," he said with a smile and salute, then dashed out of the room.

Raph met Leo's gaze with a long blink, which was probably the closest he could get to a nod of gratitude at the moment. He raised his shoulders as Donnie had instructed with a notable wince.

"Uh-huh," The turtle in purple said, flipping through the textbook and referencing Raph's burn mark every now and again. He closed the book. "Any numbness?"

"No."

"Well then. We had reason to be concerned about this, especially seeing the burn is right over the spinal cord, and both burns and harm to the spinal cord are known to cause damage to the nervous system. However, considering both your responsiveness and what we know about the varying degrees of burns on the human body, if that is anything to go off of for a mutant turtle, I have nothing to suggest that you should suffer any long-term effects."

Mikey returned with the ointment.

"It will hurt for a while," Donnie continued, gesturing for Michelangelo to give him the container. "But as long as you take care of it, you should be fine." He gathered a glob of ointment on his fingers.

Leo put his hand on Mikey's shoulder to make sure that Michelangelo was focused solely on him. "Thanks, Mikey," he said, rubbing his little brother's head to keep his attention as Donnie applied the ointment. Raph probably wouldn't mind Mikey seeing him wince that much now that they knew he wasn't in any real danger. Still, Leonardo felt he had given Raph enough to worry about tonight.

Donnie closed the lid on the antiseptic. "You should probably refrain from doing anything to aggravate the burn for a few days. No punching or rolling during training, or sudden movements. Uh, just try to move your arms and neck as little as possible until it stops aching so much."

Raph scowled. "Is that a few days as in two or three, or nine or ten?"

Donatello found the cover of the book very interesting. "I don't know."

"Try not to move my arms and no sudden- I might as well not be in training at all!"

Donnie raised a finger matter-of-factly. "That might actually be a better idea. The one I was going to suggest, in fact, but I doubted you'd comply, considering-" He caught Raphael's laser stare and thought it a good idea to trail off and abandon that sentence.

Raph turned to Leo, ignoring any pain that may have shot through his neck and shoulders. "Happy, fearless?"

Leo sighed. Raphael hadn't done anything out of line during the mission, and they both knew it. "I know. I'm sorry. Things didn't exactly go to plan."

"Didn't exactly go to plan?" He shook his head with a manic grin, paying no mind to Donnie's protest to the motion. "Wow, your standards for failure are-" he waved his hand in front of his stomach and looked at the imaginary line with a humorless chuckle. "If that's not exactly going to plan, then tell us, fearless leader, just what you consider a failure."

"Look, Raph, I didn't-"

"If I had suffered some nerve damage-" he gestured to Donnie as if to help re-emphasize his earlier point, "Would you consider that not going to plan? Would that be a failure?"

Michelangelo edged closer to the lab doors.

Leo held his palms out to his immediate younger brother in surrender. "That's not what I-"

"No, no! Now that I've heard you say it, I'm really curious." Raphael stood. "Answer the question. How seriously do you take it when something like this happens?" He pointed to his neck. "What about when one of us breaks a bone, or gets knocked out, or bleeds out? Is that all according to plan? What if one of us died? Would you still consider that a success?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"Ah! Then you wouldn't mind telling us all that we're not pawns for you to sacrifice. Why don't you look us in the eyes and tell us you wouldn't kiss us goodbye if it meant the success of one of your missions!"

"I…!" Leo stopped. He almost cried out that it wasn't true. But whether he liked it or not, Raph was right. Maybe not to the point Raphael was implying, but Leo had made the difficult decision that if it became necessary, it was the right thing to do to let go of his loved ones in order to save others.

Raphael's fists clenched by his sides. "Yeah. Thought so."

"Raph. You know you mean the world to me. All of you do."

"Save it. Why do we let you drag us around? We'd be better off following trusting a pigeon to lead us into battle. We'd get about the same results, might even come back with a few more of us intact. Heck, we might even be better off with Mikey leading!"

Michelangelo found this a good time to slip away unnoticed and stay in his bedroom for the night.

Leo sighed. "I have to make some tough decisions sometimes. None of us want that."

Raph nodded. "Yeah, none of us want that. None of us want you making any decisions for us. Because you know what? We're out there night after night risking our lives under your order. We trusted you to get us home safe every single time. And this isn't the first time you've failed us. Suddenly I'm questioning why I hadn't done this before? We've had plenty of warnings about your leadership, everything from scratches and scrapes to getting beaten to the brink of death. Night after night, time after time, fight after fight. But hey, there were plenty of 'victories' that came along with those injuries, weren't there?" He leaned closer to Leo. His tone grew hushed, but with a heaviness like he wanted everyone to hear. "No one wants you making any decisions for us, fearless, because the way you've been dragging us around, it's not if one of us doesn't come home. It's when."

With that, he left the lab.


	10. Chapter 10

"How's the mutagen coming, Donnie?" Leo asked, strolling in through the lab doors a few days after his quarrel with Raph.

Donatello groaned.

"That good, huh?"

Donnie abandoned his microscope. "I can't find anything- anything that matches up with this new…" He swirled his hand through the air, reaching for the right word. "Oh, I don't even know what it is!"

Leo hummed. "Wow. And this has been taking up all your time this week, hasn't it?"

Donnie stroked a specific line in the cloth over his palm. His eyes darted away. "...yes."

Leonardo raised his eyebrows. "Well, I mean, you haven't been working on any side projects, have you? At least not that I'm aware of."

"No. No side projects."

Leo looked at the line Donnie was tracing in his palm. "When did you start wearing traditional hand wraps?"

The turtles usually only donned the few thin bands of cloth around their hands because they wore them all the time, and despite their protective purpose in training, the cloth didn't provide much grip for everyday objects. The traditional hand wraps which Donatello was wearing at the moment covered the entire hand.

The purple-clad turtle shrugged. "A few days ago."

"Okay. Why?"

"They're better for experimenting."

Leo tilted his head to the side. "Wouldn't that make it more dangerous? Like, wouldn't the vials and beakers slip out of your hands more easily?"

"It does, but it makes other things easier."

Leonardo found that Donatello was rarely this blunt with descriptions of his experiments and decided that maybe the genius turtle wanted to be left alone. "Alright. Good luck."

Donnie nodded, still refusing to meet his eye, and returned to his microscope.

Leo started to leave.

"Remember there's going to be another Kraang shipment tonight, we should get ready in a few hours," Donatello called after him.

Leonardo stopped. "It's one after another! Are we letting that much Kraang activity go under our noses when we don't have this intel?"

"I doubt it," Donnie said. "We would have noticed more. My guess is that their activity has spiked for the moment because they're working towards an upcoming project- speaking from experience, people tend to be more willing to work diligently on their tasks when they know it will be finished and ready to put to use soon. Sort of a hurry towards the end goal, gives you more motivation."

Leo's eyes grew wide. Donnie leaned back from his microscope with a furrowed brow, then exchanged the same expression with Leo as what he had just said started to sink in.

"Finishing an upcoming project?" Leonardo echoed.

Donnie fiddled absently with a pencil. He shook his head. "Yeah… yeah, I should have seen it, the evidence was right in front of us!" He gestured to the microscope, not missing the irony of the altered mutagen being on the slide literally right in front of him. He had been staring at the evidence for the past week.

"How long do you think we have?" Leo asked.

Donnie huffed, slouching with the exhale. He looked small and limp, like a rag doll tossed aside. "I wish I knew." He let his arm drape over the side of the chair, the pencil balancing between his slack fingers. "Leo. I'm sorry." His speech was clear and slow; he didn't want to have to say the same thing again. "I don't know how I'm going to fix this. I've been looking for any explanation for this, but all I've really been doing is staring at the same thing and hoping for something to pop out at me." He sighed. "I'm stuck."

"We need you to keep trying," Leonardo said. "I know that's what you've been doing all along, but it really does matter. A lot. Your research could be the difference between win or lose."

Donatello snapped the pencil. "Oh, great! More pressure. On top of a deadline, researching an unidentifiable chemical. Just what I needed! This is- this is like defusing a ticking time bomb, and we don't know what the timer says! Or what happens when it gets to zero! Does a building explode? Does the city explode? Does the entire world's population get mutated? Who knows, but oh you can't let any of that happen, Donnie, can you? It's up to you to do the impossible and save the day!"

Leo crossed the room and put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "I know this is a lot to expect of you. This is a very stressful situation. No one is happy with it. But I know I can count on you to do your very best. After all, you've conquered impossible odds before. Don't put it past yourself to do it again."

"Technically, I couldn't have conquered the odds if they were impossible-"

"Shut up and let me encourage you. What I'm saying is, you've done amazing things. I don't want you to think that we take those for granted and assume that you can do the same on command. I'm sorry we put you under a lot of pressure. We would understand if despite your best efforts, you didn't come up with a solution. But your intellect is a powerful weapon against our enemies, and I need to know that you'll be trying your best to use it in times like these. We don't know where we would be without you, Donnie."

Donatello searched Leo's expression. Leo held his stare meaningfully.

"Thanks, Leo," he finally said, looking away. His tone sounded heavy, as if almost reluctant to accept the gratitude. His voice was much lighter when he continued, "It's also important that we stop the Kraang from succeeding with their shipments. Any delay on their part is an advantage on ours."

"Of course. I'll get the team ready to go right away."


	11. Chapter 11

The sun still cast a thin glow over the horizon when they reached their destination. It was clear to Leo now that time was of the essence if they were going to get an advantage against whatever it was the Kraang had in store, so he led the team out early despite the risk of being out in the partial light of sunset. He didn't like making that choice, especially after Raph's little speech about how he would risk his brothers' lives for the missions, but adaptability was important in a time-crunch situation such as this.

Of course, it would be helpful to know exactly how much time they had, but he had to make do. If Mikey could be flexible and graceful in battles, then what was stopping Leo from doing the same in his strategies?

"Here it is, guys. In a few minutes, a van should be leaving this facility with another shipment." Leo pointed to the said building.

"A shipment of what?" Mikey asked, already abandoning his vigilant patrol stance to lay on the roof.

"Mutagen, silly," Raph growled. "What else would it be?"

"Actually, the identification code on the shipment chart does not line up to the one they use for mutagen," Donatello said.

Michelangelo chuckled and stuck his tongue out at Raph, who huffed in response, arms crossed.

"You knew it wasn't mutagen from the code?" Leo said. "Then do you know what they are transporting?"

Donnie rubbed his neck. "No, sorry. I didn't learn the codes from hacking their computers or anything, it's just that I've seen the code for mutagen so many times I can recognize it now. I don't know what any of the other ones are."

Leo nodded. "Ah."

A glint of red on a rooftop across the street caught his attention. He squinted against the light behind it- was the sun always this annoying? Maybe only going out at night wasn't so bad. His vision cleared when he brought his hand to his forehead to shield his eyes. "Is that fishface?"

Raph drew his sais and stood next to him. "Yeah," he whispered, as if his lowered voice would make any difference to the enemy far down the street. "Yeah it is. And Tiger Claw, too."

Leo didn't see the oversized cat until he was looking for him. Tiger Claw blended almost perfectly with the sky.

Donnie produced a spyglass from his belt and studied their enemies. "They… don't seem very interested in us," he observed. He traced their gaze. "They're looking at the same building we're watching."

"Do you think they're trying to stop the Kraang, too?" Mikey asked. "After all, it could be bad for them, too, if the Kraang take over."

"Wishful thinking," Raph grumbled.

"Maybe that they know what's being shipped and want it for themselves," Leo suggested.

"Likely," Donatello replied. He gasped, pocketed the spyglass, and drew his bo. "They saw us."

The two figures were staring at them. The occasional move of one's head indicated conversation.

The two groups waited for a long while for the other to make a move. No one moved.

Fishface's head turned a final time, then Tiger Claw nodded, and they both vanished from the roof.

"Is that it?" Mikey asked. "Did they leave? Are they coming for us? Where'd they go?"

"Shh."

The brothers waited for a few more agonizing minutes before judging that their enemies had left instead of come to fight.

Raph groaned, stuffing his sais back into his belt. "I was hoping for a fight."

"Don't give up on that yet," Leo said. "There's the van."

The said van turned out of the building's parking lot and started to pick up speed.

"Get ready, ninjas."

As it neared them, the four ran along the side of the rooftops in the same direction.

The second it was parallel to him, Leo leapt and sailed towards the vehicle. He landed on its metal roof and tumbled to absorb the impact before rolling to his feet.

Mikey followed him, but tumbled a little too far and would have fallen off the van if Leo hadn't caught his arm at the last second and pulled him to safety.

"Thanks, Leo."

They waited to help Raph and Donnie, both of whom landed smoothly, but not without a loud crash each.

The Kraangdroid driving glanced in the side mirror to see what had made the noise and alerted its companion.

The passenger Kraang climbed onto the roof.

Raphael drew his sais with a grin.

SCREEEE. The van swerved. The turtles called out in surprise and stumbled, giving time for the Kraangdroid to step closer.

"Uh, Leo?" Donnie said.

"What?" Leonardo snapped, following his brother's gaze.

A second van was following them, and through the windshield, Leo could see more Kraangdroids than he'd hoped to have to deal with.

SCREEE. The first van lurched the opposite way.

"Whoa!" Donatello stumbled and flailed his arms.

The droid took advantage of his preoccupation and grabbed him by the wrist. Before Donnie could shake him, he pulled the turtle off his feet and flung him off the side of the vehicle.

"Donnie!" Mikey cried.

Leo ran to the front of the van and vaulted for an overhanging streetlamp near up ahead. He grabbed the post and hoisted himself onto it half a second before the van whizzed past.

Mikey and Raph both jumped the lamp and landed back on the vehicle's roof. They looked at Leo, then at each other, as the van sped into the distance and skidded around a corner. Leonardo dropped from the post and dashed the way they'd come. Donatello was lying motionless on the sidewalk. Leo willed himself to go faster.

He skidded to a halt on his knees and clasped his brother's hand in his. "Donnie! Are you okay?"

"Ugggghhhh…"

Leonardo squeezed Donnie's hand.

The purple-clad turtle looked up at him with one half-open eye. "I think… I took most of the impact in... my shell. I'll be- I'll be fine." He held a palm to his head and gritted his teeth.

"Can you stand?" Leo asked. Upon receiving Donatello's nod, he tightened his grip on his hand and pulled the genius turtle to his feet.

Leo glanced over his shoulder upon hearing rapid footfalls behind him. Mikey was at his side in an instant, and Raph hovered behind them.

The second van screeched to a stop beside them. Dozens of armed Kraangdroids flowed out.

Mikey drew his nunchucks and stepped in front of Donnie with an arm out as if to hold him back.

Through his pounding headache, Donatello responded with a glare.

"That which is known as Kraang is to destroy the ones who are known as the ones who are attempting to foil Kraang's plans, also known as the ones who are called turtles."

Donatello's three brothers stood in front of him now, weapons ready. Donnie scoffed and produced the hook swords from his belt.

As laser fire erupted for what felt like the millionth time that month, the turtles scattered and began to work on reducing the Kraangs' numbers.

Donnie sprinted to a nearby Kraang and sliced the torso clean in half with one swipe of a sword. He chuckled to himself and took a moment to admire the weapon. Now that was cool.

He cut through the Kraangs' robotic bodies with ease. The count of Kraang he had taken out quickly multiplied, and he found himself wondering if he was close to the number of Kraang Raphael had demolished.

Donnie peered at the path of bots Raph was leaving behind and noted that his hotheaded brother was choosing to disable the droids in a strangely systematic way- stab it through the skull, move on to the next in line, no excessive force.

Donatello chose to shrug this behavior off as Raphael choosing to be more efficient due to the number of Kraang surrounding them- which was thankfully decreasing with every passing second. He'd probably go right back to bulldozing the machines as soon as he felt the enemy was fairly matched.

Seeing multiple bots in a row in front of him, Donnie decided it was a good chance to try out a more complex move on his new weapons. He linked the two swords together and decapitated all of the droids with one quick swing. These swords were effective!

Donnie grabbed the swinging sword to disconnect it from its pair. "OW!" He jerked his hand away from the blade and mentally cursed himself for making the same mistake twice. The blade had sliced through his hand wraps, which were rapidly staining crimson.

Raph turned to him at his cry. His eyes went from his bleeding hand, then to the hook swords. "What the-" The Kraang he had been battling rammed his chest, and he fell into the wall of the shop behind him.

"Um, dudes?" Mikey said, gesturing to a third van coming down the road.

"Forget fighting these Kraangdroids!" Leo called to his team. "We need to catch up with the first van and stop the shipment!" He retreated to the rooftops, and his brothers followed shortly thereafter.

"Where do we even start?" Donnie asked as they ran in the direction that the van had gone in. "We've lost it by now, how are we going to get to it in time?"

Leonardo didn't answer.

"Leo, we don't know where it went after here. We could be running in a line for hours and find nothing! How are we going to track it?"

"The plan is! Uh…"

Donnie waited for him to continue. Leo said nothing.

Raphael glared at him. "We could have lost the van even if we didn't have to fight the Kraang! Are you seriously telling me that you didn't have a plan for if that would happen? Which, it is right now?"

"A plan for such a situation might not work out as intended," Leonardo argued. "It's better to just… be… flexible with whatever might come at us and work from there."

"Who are you and what have you done with Leo?" Donatello asked.

Raph shot him a look. "We're running in a straight line trying to track a van that we can't see, and we don't know where it went! You call that working with whatever happens?"

"Leo. I hate to rain on your parade," Mikey said, "But, uh, I think we might need a plan B. In case the plan of not having a plan doesn't work."

Leonardo coughed. "Uh…"

Raph's eyes bulged. "Not even a backup? You don't have a plan?"

"Look out!"

Donatello tackled both of them to the ground as a winged Kraang swooped at them.

Mikey whimpered and stepped back, gauging the amount of Kraangdroids sailing towards them.

Donnie rolled onto his back and propped himself on his elbows. "They must have been in the last van." He let Leo help him to his feet.

The droids swooped and dived at them like ill-tempered birds. If ill-tempered birds were large enough to carry someone away and were also armed with lasers.

They opened fire at the team with the said lasers.

The turtles ducked and blocked and dived to avoid the pink blasts of light.

"This is so much harder than fighting them when they can't fly," Mikey observed.

"Of course," Donnie responded. "They aren't limited to attacking from only one angle now. They have-" he blocked a string of light blasts and waited to catch his breath, "added a whole new dimension to the fight. They can attack from virtually anywhere."

"Fantastic," Raph grumbled.

More Kraang swooped in to join the fight.

"Dudes? I'm not sure I can hold them off for much longer."

Donnie blocked another incoming laser, barely. "He's right. Leo, we're not getting anywhere, not that we even know where to go! This isn't worth it!"

Leo ducked. "But the shipment! You said it's important we delay them all we can to buy time until they finish their project!"

"Yes, but it's even more important that we live to stop it entirely!"

Leo groaned. This kept getting better and better. "Mikey?"

Michelangelo fished a smoke bomb from his belt. "Booyakasha!"

A cloud of purple smoke engulfed the roof, and the turtles were gone.


	12. Chapter 12

Once again, it was Raphael who voiced their mission's faults upon reaching the lair. "What the heck was that?"

No one volunteered an answer.

"Somehow," he continued, pinching the bridge of his nose, "One of you always finds a way to screw things up!"

His remark was directed towards Leonardo and Donatello, yet Michelangelo was the one to shrink under the words' weight.

"Sorry," the youngest turtle mumbled.

"For once, I'm not talking about you." Raph glared at his intended targets.

Leo bowed his head, while Donnie took a sudden interest in the bricks that formed their home.

"Dudes, am I missing something?" Mikey asked. He paused to gauge Raphael's reaction to him taking part in the conversation before continuing. "It's like everything was fine a little while back, and then we lost once and it's been different ever since."

Raph threw his arms out. "Yeah, there's definitely something different! Like, maybe, I don't know! Our wonderful leader decided to go into a mission blind, and the genius thought it would be a good idea to slice his hand open in the middle of battle!"

Leo's head snapped up. "What?" He looked to Donnie, who coughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

Leonardo pulled Donatello's opposite hand towards him and examined it.

Donnie gritted his teeth, knowing that there was no chance of Leo overlooking the crimson stain on the white cloth. Especially not when Michelangelo, standing several feet away, gasped upon seeing it.

"Donnie, what happened?" Leo's chest grew tight. How had he not noticed it during the fight? Did it happen when Donnie fell off the van? He would have stuck closer to his brother had he known.

"What happened," Raph supplied when Donatello didn't, "Was he decided to take a new weapon out for a spin, in the middle of a big fight."

Leonardo wasn't about to take Raphael's word for face value, especially when his brother was angry and bound to use sarcasm and exaggerate. He glanced up at Donnie, waiting for his objection to Raphael's accusation.

Donatello still refused to meet his eye.

Leo blinked. "Donnie?"

Now that they were back in decent lighting and didn't have any enemies to distract them, Leonardo noticed that there was a metallic glint on Donatello's back where his bo staff usually resided.

Leo stood on his toes to reach the handles of the swords and slid them from their covers. "Hook swords?" He examined the weapons. "You thought it would be a good idea to take hook swords out into an important battle untrained?"

"I am not untrained!"

"I did not teach you how to use them properly."

Leonardo jumped. When had Splinter walked up beside him?

Splinter stroked his beard. "Do you have experience with the hu tou gou?"

Donnie's hands fidgeted. "Hai, sensei."

Splinter raised a brow. "How experienced are you with them?"

The purple-clad turtle's mouth twitched to the side. "I've been training with them for… about a week." He wilted even before receiving his family's stares, realizing he didn't have very much solid backing to support his side.

"And you decided to take them into battle?" Splinter asked.

"Hai, sensei."

Splinter sighed. "My son, your full ability is required in times like these, and while learning not to be dependent on one weapon is valuable, that would best be a skill learned another time." His voice became much sharper when he added, "Starting with wooden weapons in a safe environment! You want to arm yourself by learning, not destroy yourself!"

Something about Splinter's last sentence stuck with Leo. He examined the cut on Donatello's palm and put two and two together. "Donnie, take your hand wraps off."

"Why?"

Leonardo placed the swords on the ground. "I need to clean the gash."

"I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself."

Leonardo's grip tightened around Donatello's wrist, and he gave him a pointed glare.

Donnie humphed and stepped into the living room pit and flopping onto the couch, allowing Leo to sit beside him and treat his wound.

As he had expected, Leo found several similar gashes in his brother's hand upon removing the cloth, all in varying stages of healing. He recalled a few hours prior when Donnie had been tracing a line over his palm, one that outlined a nearly healed cut. It had probably itched.

Splinter's ears twitched upon seeing the various slits.

Mikey handed Leo a medkit.

"So is this why you've been making slow progress on the mutagen?" Leo asked, picking the needed materials from the kit. "Your training?"

The genius turtle nodded.

Leo started to clean the wounds. "Why?"

Donatello was silent.

"Donnie?"

He averted his gaze.

"Donnie," Leo repeated, adopting a warning tone.

His brother said nothing, but winced, tears pricking the corners of his eyes.

Leo realized he had been holding the genius's injured hand way too tight. He released it with a sigh. "Fine you don't have to tell us. But whatever the reason?" He gestured to the abrasions. "Don't keep doing this to yourself."

Donatello gave a slow nod.

"We need you to be working on the mutagen right now, not… whatever it is you're trying to accomplish." He realized a little too late that this may not have been the right time to bring that up. It sounded too much like he was dismissing Donnie's self-destructive behavior as a side note, and judging from his brother's wounded expression, they both noticed it.

Raph crossed his arms. "What we need is for both of you to get your acts together. Testing a new weapon and going without a plan- that's the kind of stupidity I thought I'd only have to watch out for from Mikey!"

Mikey stared at his feet.

Leonardo stood. "Wait, all of a sudden you're trying to tell me about going into battle without a plan? Why don't you take some of your own advice?"

Raph jabbed a finger at him. "Same goes!"

Donnie watched Mikey sneak away to his room and couldn't help feeling a little jealous. He'd follow suit if he hadn't known he wouldn't get off that easily; his older brothers would notice. Eventually.

"I was trying to be flexible with whatever happened tonight! All you do is rush in as soon as you see an enemy and bite off more than you can chew!"

"Leonardo!"

Leo tensed. "Yes sensei?"

"Is it true that you went into combat without a plan of any sort?"

"Hai, sensei. But didn't you tell me that a plan almost never withstands battle?"

"That is correct. However, that does not mean that you should go into combat without one! It is imperative you have some idea of what to do if the situation changes. Successful plan or not, you need to be aware of your options and possible routes of action. Going in without any awareness of your position is exactly what you have been telling Raphael to avoid all along."

Leo bowed, face burning. "Hai, sensei."

Splinter seated himself next to Donnie and continued tending to his son's wounds where Leo had left off. "But Raphael is right. This team's balance has been fragile as of late. You must find out what is at the bottom of these issues and correct them, especially since many people will be counting on you four to protect them in the battle that lies ahead."

Donnie, Leo, and Raph could not argue against this point. Their sensei was only speaking what they all knew. Still, it brought out the ever-dreaded subtext of 'y'all are gonna have to talk about your feelings'. None of them were exactly jumping up to volunteer first.

"It would still be helpful if we knew exactly when, though," Raphael said.

Donnie and Leo were silently grateful for the smooth detour from the subject.

Donatello helped the topic along with, "Well, there are only two more shipments written on the log April and I found, so either the rest is written on a separate log, or…"

"That's when stuff's gonna happen," Leo supplied.

Donnie groaned. "Dealing with a massive alien threat is one thing, having to find all the answers for how to stop it is just frustrating! Usually, we know what's going to happen, and we only have to figure out when and how to stop it. But now, we don't have the 'when' or 'how', but also the 'what', the 'why', and the 'where'! The only thing we have is the 'who'!"

"And we might not even have that," Raph said. "I mean, we obviously know the ugly pink brain blobs, but what were Shredder's goons doing there? They wouldn't have to have been lurking about the Kraang building if it was a Foot-Kraang team-up, they would have gone in."

Splinter finished rewrapping Donatello's hands in time for the turtle to seize a pillow and stuff his face into it. "Raph, please. At least let me think I've got one question sorted out!" He said through the pillow.


	13. Chapter 13

Donatello decided to switch some tunes on while he worked, compliments of an old radio he placed on his desk. The noise may have been a little bit distracting, but given his abundance of stress and lack of findings, he deemed the therapeutic sound a worthwhile exchange.

He hummed to himself and tapped his foot, flipping through some chemistry texts. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, only skimming through the pages in hopes for a timely refresher on a fact that would end up helping him. He was admittedly getting a little desperate for a breakthrough. Right now, any finding was a good finding.

One song faded and another began. He didn't know the words but was familiar with the tune, and absently scatted along.

Donnie closed the book with a sigh and continued humming. He glowered at the mysterious vial of bubbling unknown substance before turning to his shelf to pick another text.

He did a double take. Bubbling?

"Whoa!" Forget the radio. This needed his full attention. He lunged for the device, switched it off, and knelt to study the vial.

The bubbling stopped.

Feeling safe to grab it now that the apparent chemical reaction had ceased, he pulled the vial from its holder and brought it close to his eyes. No change.

"Huh," he muttered.

The vial bubbled, only for a second.

Donatello's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

It bubbled again, just for a moment.

Donnie's eyes grew wide. He reached over to his radio and allowed the song to continue, this time cranking it up to envelop the entire lab with its sound.

The vial bubbled continuously.

He shut the radio off. The substance was still.

His brow creased. It reacted with sound? Fascinating. There were not very many substances on Earth that did so to that extreme. In fact, it more closely resembled how Mikey said things reacted in… Donnie gasped. "Guys! Guys!"

Donatello ran out of his lab, holding the vial in his hand, which sloshed dangerously in its container, but thankfully had a cork in it.

Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo, who had been using the television, training dummy, and a comic book respectively, stopped their activities to pay attention to the excited turtle.

Leo stood. "Did you figure out what it is?"

"I'm not precisely sure just yet, but I've made some progress," Donnie reported.

"Oh?" Leo took the vial and examined it.

"It was so obvious! I can't believe I didn't realize sooner. The reason I couldn't find any chemicals that matched it? It isn't from Earth. The new substance is a Dimension X compound."

Leonardo held the substance at arm's length. "It's bubbling!"

"It reacts with sound, like most things in Dimension X. Don't worry, it won't explode or anything." Donnie paused. Was he sure about that?

Mikey peered at the vial. "So… what is it, exactly?"

"Like I said, I'm not precisely sure. But there's one other thing I found about this substance, when introduced to mutagen."

Leo nodded.

"It affects the mutagen so that it is strangely stable. No out of control mutations, no other effects. Whatever this is, is introduced into the recipient's DNA, and that's it. Much more precise than other mutations. From what I can tell, the mutant would maintain their form and mental state, aside from whatever it is that this substance changes."

"Strange," Leo said. "Do you think they're trying to use this as a substitution for April's DNA?"

"I thought about that," Donnie said, "But it doesn't seem to affect the same part of the DNA as it would if somebody got mutated with April's genes. It's unlikely that the Kraang are trying to produce the same characteristics that merging April's DNA yields."

"Then what are they trying to do?" Raph asked.

"I wish I knew," Donatello replied. "Whatever it is, tonight's shipment code is matched to the same item as we weren't able to intercept yesterday. If we can successfully stop the shipment and see what's inside, maybe it will give us a clue."

Raphael crossed his arms and glared at him and Leo. "Then we had better make sure we stop it. We can't afford to lose again."


	14. Chapter 14

"Alright, guys," Leo said when they had returned to the same building they had observed the previous night. "Are you all clear on the plan?" He looked at each of his brothers in turn and waited for them to nod. "Remember, they'll be expecting us now that they know we know they're here. There's bound to be extra security, so stay on your toes."

With that, they all leapt across the street onto the roof of the said building.

Leo caught his grappling hook on the roof's ledge. He jumped, pulled on the handle of his grappling hook, and swung towards a window. The glass shattered as he crashed through it, feet first. He managed to tackle a Kraangdroid guard before landing and tumbling to his feet. His brothers followed suit.

After checking to make sure they were all accounted for and unharmed, Leo motioned for them to continue.

The four snuck down the hall, found the staircase, and descended to the first level. They followed the signs conveniently pointing them to the garage, and found the hallway which contained the door to the said room quickly.

Up until that point, there had not been all that many Kraangdroids. The garage's hallway, on the other hand, housed dozens of them. Maybe a conspicuous method, Leo mused, but it deterred his team nonetheless.

He motioned for his brothers to back up and led them to the opposite end of the floor, where they could talk safely.

"Bro," Mikey whispered, eyes wide. "There's like a hundred of them."

Leo nodded. "Too many to face head-on." He turned to Donnie. "Do you have anything that could help us take them out faster? Several at a time?"

Donatello considered this, then shook his head.

Leo huffed and stared at the floor, thinking. "They're organized," he said. "All facing the wall opposite the garage's door…" he motioned with his hands, trying to visualize a potential strategy. "It will be a tight squeeze, but if we can get behind them, we might be able to take out enough of them to even out the fight a little bit before they notice. But getting behind them will be a problem; that hallway is so narrow, any movement is bound to attract their attention…"

Leonardo clasped his hands together and rested his head on them. His brow furrowed. "Unless we don't attack them from where they are, we make them come to us, preferably a few at a time." His eyes darted slightly back and forth as he thought. "Did that hallway connect at two ends, or just one?"

"Two," Raphael said.

"Good. Raph, you and Mikey find the other end. Donnie and I will stay on this side. Find a hiding spot, then tip something so that it falls and makes noise. They'll send a few bots to investigate. Take them out as stealthily as you can, return to your hiding spot, and repeat. We'll take turns on both sides until they've figured out either not to send anyone, or to send a large group. In either situation, we can then come out and face them."

The three younger turtles nodded their understanding.

"Split up. Raph and Mikey, you have more space to travel, so you go first once you've found your hiding spaces."

The designated pairs left to their assigned tasks.

Leonardo and Donatello crept back near the garage hallway, scanning left and right for anything to hide them.

To Leo's dismay, he realized that he hadn't taken note that there wasn't much to hide behind.

Fortunately, Donnie was a step ahead of him. He jiggled the knob of a cleaning closet, and upon seeing that it wouldn't open, gestured for Leo to pick the lock.

Leonardo did so, and once Donnie was situated inside the closet, he pushed out a cart of cleaning supplies, which Leo wheeled a few paces from his brother's hiding spot and ducked behind. The cart reeked of disinfectant mingled with mud and mildew and rotten who-knows-what, but it would serve.

Donatello closed the door all but a crack so that he could communicate with his leader, albeit only with gestures and facial expressions.

After some waiting, Leo heard a distant crash. Upon hearing the sound, he wished he had been able to come up with a different plan. Even if he knew it was coming, the noise was still unnerving, and gave him no way to know what had happened. Cacophony like that was usually an indicator of trouble, and he found it upset his nerves. He wanted to run to his brothers' aid and make sure nothing had gone wrong.

But of course, that would only mean trouble for the mission, so he stayed still and waited for a few minutes before making a move.

He produced a shuriken from his belt and examined a ceiling light a little down the hall, hanging by its cord. With one precise toss, he sliced the cord in two, and the light smashed on the ground.

The Kraang in the garage corridor beeped at each other, then whirring machinery approached.

From a gap between a spray bottle and dirty towel, he saw five bots round the corner.

He drew his weapon as they neared, and Donnie did the same upon seeing him. Leo counted down the seconds on his fingers for Donatello to see.

Three… two… one.

Leo vaulted the cart and speared the first two droids, one for each sword. Donnie flung the door open and promptly eliminated two more. Both turtles skewered the fifth at the same time.

The Kraang left their robots, screeching alien language, and started to run for the other Kraang.

Donnie scooped them up and shoved them into a mop bucket, then barred them inside with a broom and some duct tape.

Leo gestured to the robots littered about the corridor- that would certainly make the next group suspicious.

Donatello pointed his thumb over his shoulder into the closet.

They were piling the lifeless droids in when they heard a second clatter from the other side of the building. The pair returned to their respective spots and prepared for their next distraction.

Which happened to be Donnie chucking a mop into the drywall. Then it was the same process, rinse and repeat. The mop bucket became a Kraang prison, the closet, a landfill of droids.

"I'm going to have to stay where I am to balance them," Donnie said, tilting his head to the precarious pile of metal.

"Okay. I suspect the Kraang will catch on soon, anyway, Leo said, adding one last bot. He returned to his hiding space and tossed a container of air freshener at the window.

Which made enough noise on its own, without the added clamor of Donatello falling and being covered by the numerous robots he had been trying to support.

Leo hauled his brother from the pile. "Well, I'm sure it got their attention."

Another group of five bots came into view, but upon seeing the avalanche of empty robots, promptly returned to their companions to alert them.

Mechanical whirs approached. Judging from the sound, an entire army of Kraang would round the corner any second.

Donatello looked to Leonardo. "What do we do?"

"Let's find Raph and Mikey. Keep stealthy."

The duo turned the back corner of the hallway as the Kraangdroids appeared in the front. They navigated the corridors with relative ease, as the building was not particularly large, and soon came to where Michelangelo and Raph were battling a small group of droids.

Leo filled them in. "They know we're here." He stabbed the last of the small group through its metallic skull. "They sent most of their soldiers after us. If we're quick, we can fight through the few remaining to guard the garage door before the rest catch up with us."

The reunited team dashed to the garage hallway. Like Leonardo had said, there were only a few bots left to guard.

The turtles fought to reduce the few that stood in time. The number of bots standing between them and the door wouldn't have fazed them under normal circumstances, but Leo could already hear the other group of droids approaching. Not only that, but Raphael fought a lot less aggressively than usual, which did nothing to help their progress. Leonardo mused the red-clad turtle must be tiring out.

Mikey reached the door and flung it open, flattening the final robot against the wall with it.

The brothers dashed inside to find another van like the one they had failed to stop the previous night.

"How are we going to destroy the shipment?" Donnie asked.

Leo barred the door shut with one of his katanas as the army of Kraang charged for the door. "There's no time for that now! Get in the van!"

The four of them climbed in, squishing into what was meant to be two people's worth of space.

Donatello, being the closest, seized the steering wheel.

"The garage door is closed," Mikey said.

Donnie floored the gas and crashed the van straight through the said door.

Raphael laughed and raised his eyebrows at his brother. "Wow, Donnie. That was kinda reckless of you."

Donatello smirked. "Where to?" he asked, not lifting off the gas, should the aliens decide to follow them.

Headlights behind them said they had, indeed, chosen to do so.

"The docks," Leo said.

Donnie took them in the direction of the said destination, although his chosen route was more complicated than that of a taxi driver with an out of town passenger. He turned at every corner and crossing, trying to shake their pursuers, once even taking them around the same block three times.

Michelangelo watched the mirrors. "I think we lost them."

Leonardo checked every mirror and glanced out the window before confirming. "I think you can slow down now, Donnie. The last thing we want is for a cop to pull us over."

Donatello eased his pressure on the pedal, and they continued to the docks in a much less perilous manner.

Once hidden safely between two shipping crates, Donatello turned the van's key, and its headlights went dim.

Mikey climbed out of the vehicle and stretched. "So what's in the back?"

Leo stepped onto the ground and proceeded to the back. "We're about to find out."

The team gathered around the back of the van.

Leonardo pushed the door up to reveal hundreds of large, thin metal boxes, neatly stacked, perfectly fitting the size of the van with gaps in between them.

"They look like pizza boxes," Mikey said, "except they're made of metal." He gasped. "That would protect the pizza inside from getting all beaten up if something happened to the box. Why do restaurants not use metal pizza boxes?"

"Because the use of so much metal, especially when most people wouldn't return the boxes, would be a serious threat to the sustainability of the material. It isn't a nonrenewable resource, you know."

Raphael tugged one of the boxes from the stack. He pulled the cover off, looked inside, and paled.

The docks were dimly lit, and Leo couldn't see the contents of the box from where he stood. "What is it?"

Raph shook his head.

Leonardo pulled a second box from the stack to see for himself. The box he chose had apparently been placed improperly, as the upside-down lid fell off.

The contents showered out and tumbled everywhere, releasing a waterfall of high-pitched clinks as they bounced off of the ground and each other.

Donatello knelt down, back to Leo, to pick one off the ground, and examined it with the help of his flashlight. "...Oh no." He let the object fall, and focused his light's beam on the rest of the van's load. He pulled the lids off the boxes and examined each of their contents, making a mess of the boxes and littering the ground with more of the tiny objects in the process. "No, no, no, they're all the same! There's thousands in here!" He stopped what he was doing and turned to Leo, eyes wide. "We didn't stop the other shipment."

Michelangelo glanced from Raphael to Donatello. "What? What? What are they?"

Leonardo fished his own flashlight from his belt and pointed the beam where the items had fallen.

There at his feet lay countless Kraang mind control devices.


	15. Chapter 15

After some thinking, Donatello had been the one to suggest that they bulldoze the tiny mind control devices. Thanks to the heavily used city streets in frequent need of repair, it wasn't hard to "borrow" a steamroller for a few hours to crush the gadgets. After they had acquired the steamroller, they only had to go through the easy, yet tedious, process of dumping the devices into a not too wide or thick path so that the machine could crush them to bits.

Although it was nearly impossible to find a gadget in one piece after the first rolling, Donnie insisted on flattening the devices a second, third, and fourth time to be safe.

Many unloaded boxes and rounds of crushing later, the devices were safely deemed beyond repair. Then came the task of sweeping the shattered bits of tech back into their boxes and loading them into the van.

After all of this, for good measure, Leo suggested they push the van off the deepest part of the docks.

Donatello agreed, but not before salvaging the said vehicle for spare parts, and also removing the pieces that could prove hazardous to the wildlife once they'd pushed it into the water- no need for speeding pollution up any more than they already were, pushing all that metal into the ocean.

They shoved the van off the side of the docks and watched the bubbles escape as it drifted into the murky depths, the green seawater slowly obscuring its bright paint as it sank.

The team managed to return the roller at the break of dawn.

They were all well tired by this point, and it did nothing to help when Leonardo insisted they rush back to the lair. Splinter must be getting worried.

Donnie was the first to cross the turnstiles, and found that their father had indeed been waiting for them, resting on the couch, hands and chin propped on his staff. His ears flicked, registering his son's footsteps, and he turned to face them with tired eyes. Upon seeing Donatello, he jumped to his feet and ran for his son.

Donnie tilted his head at this reaction before registering that he was still covered in the van's oil. The substance could have been mistaken for a less pleasant dark stain upon first glance, and it didn't help that they had been out all night and kept their father worrying for hours.

Splinter realized his misinterpretation upon examining his son and pulled the genius turtle to his chest, paying no mind to the oil he smeared on his robes in the process.

Donatello leaned on his father, comforted by the gesture and too exhausted to do otherwise.

Splinter placed his free hand on Mikey's, Leo's, and Raph's shoulders in turn, examining each of his sons for possible injuries. Satisfied they were unharmed, he asked, "What happened?"

"We intercepted the shipment as planned, Sensei," Leonardo said. "The Kraang are mass producing mind control devices."

Splinter let out a long breath, bringing a hand to his face. "Did you destroy them?"

"The ones we found, but we know that the shipment we failed to get yesterday was full of them, too, and we have no way of knowing where it went."

Splinter closed his eyes and folded his hands behind his back. "This is dire news. How many shipments can you yet track?"

"Only one," Donnie said.

"Then you must use this last chance to find out all you can about the Kraangs' plan."

"When is the next shipment due to send?" Leo asked Donnie.

"Not for another few days."

Splinter acknowledged this. "Then I suggest, in the meantime, you all get your rest. You have done all you can today. It is best to be well-prepared when you are able to act."

No one argued. As infuriating as it was, there was little more they could do until they had more information.

"Hai, Sensei," the brothers chorused. They made their ways to their respective rooms, all ready to be done with the day.

After a good rest, Michelangelo was feeling much better. Physically, at least. As much as he tried not to let their situation get to them, the Kraangs' threat of domination was not easy to shake.

Neither were his brothers' words. He had grown somewhat used to the hurtful jabs over the years, but they never truly lost their sting. Especially not now that they were more frequent.

Mikey reasoned that his brothers were under a considerable amount of stress, and that it would show in their actions, even if they didn't realize it. Somehow, it didn't calm him to think this. There was always that unwanted part of him that told him everything he had ever done wrong in every interaction in his life, and that part of him only grew with every jab his brothers took at him.

By his brothers, he mostly meant Raphael. Leonardo didn't seem too happy with him either, but kept his thoughts to himself. Whether it was because he didn't want to hurt his brother, or because Raph voiced his thoughts, was unclear.

Mikey reminded himself that Donnie had been mostly friendly to him lately, hadn't made any remarks about him. Then that unwanted voice chimed in and kindly pointed out that it was most likely because he hadn't talked to Donatello much lately. Donnie was under a lot of pressure, and Michelangelo had taken the hint and stayed out of his lab. He didn't need a reminder of all the times Donnie had yelled at him to leave him to his work, and that was even without a massive threat hanging over their heads.

Michelangelo wasn't keen to get yelled at by Donnie right now. Raph's taunts on his intelligence were one thing. To have Donatello tell Michelangelo exactly what he thought of his mind would be a whole other story.

Even from when they were little, Mikey had always recognized Donnie's talent. The genius seemed to know everything. He could memorize everything from basic biology to the most obscure mathematical concepts. He could think of a real-life problem and solve it with a brilliant invention, built solely from spare junkyard materials, and fully functional as if he had a blueprint he had used a million times.

No, for Donnie to mock him would be devastating right now. It was enough with Raph getting on his case. He wasn't sure how he'd handle it if his beloved genius brother chimed in.

It occurred to Mikey that he should be more worried about the Kraang threat at the moment than what his brothers thought of him. That annoying voice told him he was a selfish person for worrying about his own troubles when there was a bigger problem that could potentially affect all of New York City's population, if not more.

He reasoned that there wasn't much he could be doing right now to help the situation except wait. The guilt didn't wash away. His thoughts only prompted the voice to tell him that he was playing with action figures right now, and surely there was something more productive he could do, and that he was only wasting his time.

Mikey pushed these thoughts away and pulled his focus back to the epic story he had been improvising.

Michelangelo lay across his bed, facing Ice Cream Kitty, who sat in a bowl on the crate that served as a desk- well, for him, it was less a desk and more an area to dump whatever he needed on.

He raised the action figure he was holding and did his best impression of the evil villain voice he'd heard the character use on television. "You may have defeated me last time Crognard," the wizard said, "but this time, I have a trick up my sleeve."

Ice Cream Kitty, gripping a Crognard the Barbarian figure, tilted her head with a curious meow.

"I, Malfidor, have regained control of your friends! But it seems last time, I still could not keep you from getting past them. No matter! My evil genius has given me a new plan! One that will surely put an end to your terrible reign of justice and friendship!" Mikey threw his head back and laughed maniacally for dramatic effect.

Ice Cream Kitty jumped. Either she really got into their games, or she was just humoring Mikey, something he doubted his brothers would be keen to do. Faked reaction or not, Michelangelo found himself glad to have a pal like her.

"You see, last time, I made the foolish mistake of settling for controlling your friends as they are. But what a mistake that was! All the possibilities I missed! Worry not, I shall not make the same mistake twice. I have made some improvements to your friends."

Ice Cream Kitty meowed a fierce cry.

Mikey grabbed the Graah figure and brought it beside Malfidor.

"Your friend is now not only strong, but I have gifted him some of my intellect to make him an even smarter fighter. I also gave some of his strength to Wizardess to make her a stronger fighter as well as a talented one, as well. Now, with your improved friends under my control, you are doomed, Crognard! Doomed!"

Michelangelo stopped, looked at the figures in his hands, and sighed. He set Graah and Wizardess aside and sat on his knees, Malfidor figure cradled in his hands.

He had been the one to suggest that the cartoons the turtles watched often mirrored their missions, and the irony of the scene he was playing out didn't escape him.

He reassured himself that even if the Kraang were trying to mind control everyone, at least they didn't have tools at their disposal to modify their victims to meet their needs.

Except for the mutagen, that nagging voice said.

Right. Mutating people to meet their needs was their whole deal. But they had succeeded at that during the invasion, and even then, the team had been able to rescue them.

Even if they did have the mutagen to transform the humans into their slaves, at least they didn't have mutagen to give those humans any extra power. If anything, mutating the humans had made them weaker, and that was why the Kraang had been able to control them so easily, even without the help of mind control devices.

But what about the new substance in the mutagen? Maybe that could make them more powerful.

Mikey tried to dislodge the thought with a shake of his head, but it wouldn't leave.

The Kraang were trying to give the humans power by mutating, then controlling them with the devices. No, it was one of those silly ideas his brothers would yell at him for. If he brought it up, they'd just laugh at him for still thinking superpowers were still possible.

But it made sense. If the Kraang wanted to make the humans more powerful, then they would need extra help controlling them. It would explain the sheer number of mind control devices, and why they would need both mutagen and the gadgets for the same project.

The Kraang was building an army of superhumans.

Michelangelo leapt to his feet and raced for the door. He had to take this to Donnie, or Leo! They would know what to do!

He reached for his doorknob, hesitated.

Thinking obviously isn't your thing.

Leave all the brilliant ideas to Donnie. At least he doesn't seem to mess them up as bad.

Somehow, one of you always finds a way to screw things up.

That's the kind of stupidity I thought I'd only have to watch out for from Mikey!

On the other hand, Donatello had surely thought of it by now. He would have thought of the possibility, and seen the obvious error in it that only an idiot could gloss over.

Mikey couldn't think of what that error could be, but seeing Donnie hadn't mentioned the possibility to anyone, he apparently had.

Michelangelo returned to his bed and picked up the Malfidor figure again with an apology nod to his beloved pet. Best not to waste the genius's time, and get himself ridiculed by the one brother who hadn't chewed him out yet at the same time.

He asked himself why he had even bothered.

Realizing Ice Cream Kitty was still waiting for him to continue, he picked his Spooch toy and held it next to Melfidor.

"Why, I even put some time into your useless friend, Spooch. It took a lot to make him a worthwhile soldier. He doesn't have any strength of his own, and certainly no intellect! Why I even bothered to include him beats me, I had to transfer a lot of Wizardess's and Graah's ability into him. They would be so much better to just leave him behind, and I think I might do just that."

Mikey's voice slowly returned to his own. "He's nothing but a dumb, useless burden to his team. I don't know why no one's realized that yet."


	16. Chapter 16

Discovering that the compound originated in Dimension X was a blessing that Donatello was determined not to dismiss. Now that he knew for an absolute fact he wasn't going to find any matching materials on Earth, he reorganized his research to suit his findings. He had compiled an advanced to-do list to find out exactly what purpose the material was supposed to achieve in the mutagen, and now referenced the few Kraang databases he had access to, as opposed to the texts he had been using.

Donnie was not particularly satisfied with the limited sources he had on Dimension X, but had nevertheless been able to construct a few tests to eliminate the possibility of a few common Dimension X compounds.

Along with the tests he had managed to start, he also started to sift through some of the code he had found on Kraang gadgets he'd salvaged in hopes for useful information. It proved to be tedious work, and his sore eyes begged him to take a break, but he had somewhere to start his research from now, and resolved to keep working. No sense in neglecting to obtain any data that could be useful to the team.

As if to spite his resolution, Raphael hovered at his lab's door.

Donatello continued to type away at his computer, actively willing himself not to give his brother any indication he knew he was there. Doing so would only spark the interruption of conversation- as if his presence outside the doors weren't a distraction enough. Donnie could only focus so much with the knowledge of Raphael waiting for something- something he was apparently hesitant to bring up, and that was not a good sign if you asked Donnie.

Donatello hoped if he seemed busy enough in his work, maybe Raph would take the hint.

Challenging his wishes once more, Raphael made his decision and stepped into the lab.

When Raph crossed the room and leaned against the genius's desk, Donnie ignored him for a few seconds longer, but soon found himself cornered in the social expectation of acknowledging his presence. He pulled his reddened eyes off the computer screen and raised his brows to the red-clad turtle

"Are your hands healing okay?" Raph asked.

"Yeah, they're almost there."

Raphael shifted and crossed his arms. "Ah. Good, good."

Donnie internally chewed his brother out for choosing now of all times to make small talk. He seriously doubted that this was the main point Raphael wanted to discuss, and with each passing second, he grew more aware of the amount of foreign code flying by on his monitor's screen. He'd have to find his place again if he wanted to be sure he hadn't missed anything important, a task that would become more difficult with each new line of symbols that appeared.

To confirm his suspicion, Raph pursed his lips, a sure sign he was going to bring up a bigger topic.

If he wanted to say something, he may as well get it code still zoomed by, and the timers he had on each of his individual chemical tests were ticking down. He had hoped to get this page of encryption translated before having to reset his tests.

Donatello found himself both dreading, and relieved by, the moment Raph took a deep breath.

"Why did you do it?"

Donnie tilted his head. "What?"

` Raph kicked a forgotten screw on the floor and watched it roll in an arc. "The hook swords."

Donnie frowned. "I thought this was done with. Leo said I didn't have to say anything, so long as I didn't-"

"Well, I'm not Leo, am I?"

"...no." He interlaced fidgeting hands. "But I'd hoped you would respect his decision on the matter."

Raph smirked. "Since when do I fly by fearless's rules?"

Donnie gave him a pointed look. "Since recently."

Raphael's smug grin faltered, if only for a second. "Don't change the subject. Why did you choose a new weapon and not tell anyone?"

"I felt it would be a good learning experience."

Raph scowled. "What, do you think I'm an idiot? You wouldn't try something like that for the sake of it. I know you well enough to know you're smart enough to think about all the risks."

"Why, thank you."

"Donnie!"

"Why bring it back up now? I haven't done anything like it again."

"That's just it. It's not the only stunt you've pulled recently."

Donatello realized how warm it was in his lab, and made a mental note to check the ventilation later. The heat was making his stomach sick.

Raph made a fist, leaving his index finger out. "You've been more aggressive in fights." He straightened his second finger. "You're using more force."

"Aww, feeling threatened?"

Raphael's shoulders tensed. He shook his head, more to himself than Donnie. "And," He said, voice a little too loud, "You crashed through a closed garage door." He pointed his thumb.

"I thought that amused you?" Donnie tilted his head.

"It was reckless."

Donatello barked and stared Raph down. "Right, cause we can only handle one reckless person on the team! Oh, I'm sorry if I've been stealing your title."

Raphael curled his hands into fists. He jabbed a finger at Donnie, paused, and forced himself into what Donatello assumed was supposed to be a relaxed pose.

"Donnie," he said. His voice carried all the strain he had shoved out of his posture. "I know you wouldn't be acting off if something wasn't wrong."

Donatello adopted a sing-song tone. "What, big, tough Raph wants me to talk about my feelings?"

Raph made a strangled sound, huffed, and rolled his eyes. "Yes. I do."

Donnie could scream right there. This was not what he needed right now. Especially from the very person who always seemed content to show him up in strength every chance he got.

Donatello chuckled. "Alright, then. I feel like you're wasting my time talking to me when I have work to do and little time to do it in, and all you're doing is making another distraction. I also feel like you're a hypocrite to talk to me about impulsiveness and you should go about minding your own business and dealing with your own issues, which, by the way, aren't as discreet as you'd like to believe."

Even as the words left his mouth, Donnie regretted them. It took courage for Raph to talk to him, and he knew his brother was only concerned.

But every time the red-clad turtle had boasted about how easy it was to beat him in training, every condescending comment on his strength and skill, every jab at his weaknesses- yes, Donnie knew Raph valued his aggression to protect his brothers, but did the red-clad turtle not understand he was trying to do the same?

Donnie stood and pointed at the lab doors. "So why don't you get back to sitting around and moping while I have to sort through who even knows how many codes, and have to find my place, and make up for the time you've been taking up?"

Raphael reached across the desk and shoved him. "Fine then! Have fun with your codes! Here's one for you to crack, when did Donnie become such a-" He clenched his jaw and raised a fist, searching for the right word. The vein in his forehead bulged. He scoffed and shot Donatello a glare, then stormed out of the lab.

Donnie stayed standing even after he had gone. It didn't occur to him to be upset about how many lines of data he would have to retrace in the time he spent standing there.


	17. Chapter 17

Leonardo's heart pounded against his ribs despite the fact he was perfectly still. He tried to steady his breathing, and tried even harder to make sure his team didn't pick up on the fact. Judging from the looks of them, they were all as nervous as him, and detecting their leader's anxiety would only magnify their own.

But whether he showed it or not, the mission could be their. last chance to stop the Kraang plan, and that scared him.

He breathed. It was just another mission. It was just another Kraang facility. This was nothing they had not dealt with before. His team could handle it.

His team that had been drifting apart. The fact hadn't escaped his notice.

Even now, the four seemed eager to distance themselves from one another in the alley which they hid.

Raphael perched upon the lid of the dumpster behind Leo, slouching, arms crossed.

Donatello leaned against the brick wall that made up the opposite side of the alley, chancing a sympathetic glance at Raphael every so often.

Michelangelo lay on the fire escape, looking more tired than Leonardo had ever seen him.

Leo surveyed their target destination. "Alright, team. Gather round."

The three left their respective spots in no apparent hurry, and huddled to discuss their plan.

"The Kraang chose a parking garage this time. It'll be a bit of a different layout than we're used to, but we've pulled off the same plan before. All we have to do is get Donnie to the mutagen so he can contaminate it beyond use, and leave. Donnie, you got what you need?"

Donnie held up a vial of the same contaminant he had used before.

"Then let's do this. Stealthy, ninjas."

The brothers hurried to the parking garage. One by one, they leapt over the concrete barrier which separated the first-floor parking space from the outside.

The floor consisted of several rows of various vehicles ranging in colors and conditions. None of them appeared particularly Kraang-y, but Leo mused it wouldn't hurt to check.

He motioned for them to split up and each search a few rows.

After a quick sweep of the floor, they reunited at the ramp that led to the next level, and continued on.

Even after their searches of the area, the first floors remained unsuspicious.

The same could not be said for the fifth story.

Upon cresting the slope, the turtles' gazes immediately fell on the group of vans resting by the next floor's ramp. A chain dangled across the length of the said ramp, donning a sign which read: CLOSED FOR REPAIR. DO NOT ENTER.

The team crossed to the vans.

Raphael threw the back of one of the vehicles open. It was empty.

"We must have arrived before they could stock these ones," Donnie whispered.

Leo held a hand out to silence him.

Beeps and whirs sounded above them.

Leo pointed up, gestured his team to draw their weapons, and ducked under the chain.

The four snuck up the ramp and crouched by the top of it to take in the sight before them.

The entire space was covered in Kraang vans, the backs to which all gaped wide open. Pink portals lined the far wall. Kraangdroids steadily emerged from them, each carrying a single canister of mutagen, and deposited the container in the back of one of the vehicles before returning to the portal where they had come. The process remained mechanically identical, and it was almost mesmerizing to watch as the robots made their loops in sync down their designated aisles. It was like viewing a strange dance routine.

Leonardo picked up a few of the words Donatello muttered to himself.

"About 500 canisters per van if placed strategically, which knowing the Kraang... and 15 vans per row, two rows an aisle times the number of aisles… aiming to send out over 50,000 canisters, at least."

Mikey's strangled whimper told Leo he wasn't the only one who had been listening.

Leonardo glanced in the back of one of the nearby vans. "They're on the other side," he whispered, "And the nearby vans don't have anything in them yet. They've only started loading them."

"But look at all the security," Michelangelo said, pointing to the portals.

Leo squinted past the bright pink light the triangles emitted. He hadn't noticed the row of guards that stood vigilantly behind the circling droids.

He sized the guards up. "We'll have to shut the operation down without them noticing. By stealth. We need to contaminate the mutagen without drawing their attention."

"I don't think that's an option," Donnie said. "Last time, we were able to dump the contaminant in a giant vat and leave, but the mutagen is separated this time. We'd have to get into the back of every single van unnoticed, open each canister individually, and put a minuscule drop it in order to have enough contaminant to go around. Not to mention the Kraang would be giving us more and more mutagen to destroy with each passing second, and once the mutagen is unusable, it turns black. Even if we could sneak into each individual van and leave on time, they'd notice the mutagen had changed."

Leo groaned. "Right. We'll take the vans, then. Like last time."

Raph shook his head. "Too many have mutagen already in them. We could only steal four vans, then they'd know we're here, and then what? We wouldn't be able to stop the entire shipment."

"True." Leo cradled his head in his hands. "We… we need to shut down the portals."

"But there's too many guards! They'll see us coming," Mikey said, voice rising in alarm.

"Shh!"

Numerous robot heads swiveled to look at exactly where they were crouched.

"Mikey!" three voices yelled.

Michelangelo ducked his head at his brothers' tone, incidentally dodging a laser blast in the process.

The four drew their weapons and dashed down the aisles of vans, weaving to avoid the laser beams.

The droids that had been circling through dimensions to retrieve the mutagen quickly caught on, and called reinforcements through the portals.

Raphael leapt on top of the vehicles, launched himself towards the far window, grabbed the support column that separated one open window from the next, and swung himself around to kick a guard behind the portals through the triangle of light.

"Raph!" Donnie called. "Keep pushing them through! I have an idea!"

Raphael grabbed the guards and shoved them through the back of the portal while Donatello did the same with the ones congregating at the front.

They swept all the nearby bots into Dimension X, then Donatello typed a command into the device lining the corner of the portal. The triangle fell closed, and the portal's corner gadgets clicked together and clattered to the ground.

Donnie destroyed the gadget with a swift stab of his naginata blade and motioned for Raph to continue to the next portal in line.

Michelangelo and Leonardo drew bots into the middle of the room where they fought back-to-back. The duo fought as though rehearsed, turning in sync with each other to effectively cover one another.

The robots that came to face them were those that had been loading mutagen, and were not each equipped with a heavy laser gun, but a taser rod, which nonetheless proved threatening.

The youngest and oldest turtles stabbed and blocked and swung and weaved, reducing the swarm of bots that crowded them.

The Kraang began to adjust to their fighting style and formed patterns to disrupt their usual flow.

Michelangelo fought against one such pattern. A swing here, a jab then, a block there. A Kraang swung its taser at him faster than expected. Panic flooded his mind as the electric weapon sailed for his head, and without thinking, he ducked the weapon, and too late realized his mistake.

Leonardo cried out as the shock coursed through his muscles, and fell to the ground.

"Leo!" Mikey yelled.

The youngest turtle stood over his brother and switched his fighting style to hold off the Kraang on all sides. He glanced at his leader between blocks and parries, a knot forming in his stomach.

The Kraang closed in tighter and tighter.

Leo groaned and pushed himself to his knees. He glared at his brother while picking his swords from where they had fallen. "Thanks for having my back, Mikey."

Mikey relaxed a little at seeing Leonardo getting back onto his feet. "Whoops. Sorry, bro."

"Watch what you're doing. You need to focus."

Michelangelo frowned at Leo's tone. He did as told and fell back into the pattern he and Leo had been maintaining before his slip-up.

With his eldest brother fighting at his side again, they were able to drive the ring of Kraang around them back.

Raphael and Donatello shortly joined them. With two fighting from the inside of the ring, and two on the outside, the Kraang dropped like flies.

"The portals are down," Donatello informed them, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Great!" Leo said between breaths. "There are only a few more Kraang!"

"And we do so thank you for taking care of that problem for us."

The four turtles and few remaining robots turned to face the new arrivals at the sixth-floor entrance.

Tiger Claw stood tall, flashing a dagger-toothed smile, in front of Rahzar, Fishface, Bebop, Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, and an army of four-armed footbots.

"Oh. Oh, no," Leo moaned.

"Foot, attack!"

Footbots and mutants sped forward, ready for a fight.

The turtles did their best to hold them off, but they were outnumbered ten to one.

Leonardo looked at his brothers individually. Each was already tired, and they were slipping up and taking hits. They were fighting a losing battle.

"Turtles, smoke!"

Raphael struggled to hold a footbot's drill arm between his sais. "We're gonna let them have the mutagen? We don't know what they can do with it!"

"We don't have a choice!" Leo threw his smoke bomb at the floor.

The sounds of three other eggshells on the floor preceded clouds of purple smoke.

The turtles vanished from the fight, leaving their enemies to take the mutagen for themselves.


	18. Chapter 18

The following day at the lair proved nothing short of tense. The air was heavy with unease, light of the usual laughter and chatter, and mostly quiet.

Donatello worked in his lab, but aside from his ongoing and frustrating project of analyzing the substance, no one had anything they could do to help.

Waiting was excruciating.

Leonardo occupied himself with figuring out what exactly they could do to get a leg up on the Kraang once they left for evening patrol. Until then, he had nothing to work with to stop their alien enemy, and it was only midday, about eight hours until the sun set enough for them to safely return to the surface. Again and again, he found himself at the dead-end of a train of thought. Some details on their situation would help him out.

Raphael had spent several sessions at the training dummy, and had more than once sent the helpless figure flying across the lair's living space.

Michelangelo attempted to distract himself with the best episodes of his favorite series, the hardest levels of his video games, and the most intriguing issues of his comics, ultimately failing.

While he'd tried to shake the idea of the Kraang building a superhuman army when it had first occurred to him, the thought had been constantly nagging at him.

No. Donnie would have already thought of it, he told himself. He realized he hadn't been paying mind to the annoyingly long dialogue box in the middle of the comic page, and would have to start over again.

But the thought wouldn't leave him alone.

No. He should let everyone go about their own business and not interrupt. They were surely working on something that could defeat the threat looming above their heads.

Mikey started on the dialogue box for the third time. Ugh, he had read the beginning line twice already! It didn't hold his interest anymore. He skimmed the box for where he'd previously left off.

And now he wasn't reading the bubble with the full meaning it was intended to have by skipping around like that. It would be best for him to read the entire thing in one go, as expected.

He started at the beginning line again.

But what if the possibility had slipped Donatello's mind? After all, the genius turtle had once told Michelangelo that he had a unique perspective; thought about things from different angles.

With a sigh, Mikey set the comic aside, and rolled off his bed onto the floor. He doubted the idea would leave him alone if he didn't, so perhaps it was best to chance a few moments in Donatello's lab to be sure. He could leave if his thought did prove to be as inaccurate as he suspected, anyway.

Michelangelo pushed himself to his feet and made his way to the lab.

Donatello didn't acknowledge him when he entered, already immersed in a conversation.

"Yeah, I know," the genius said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "My head is swimming. I wouldn't be able to see the solution if it stood right up and declared itself."

Mikey glanced around the lab, brow furrowed. No one else was there, who was Donnie talking to?

He got his answer a moment later when Doctor Rockwell's voice filled the lab, distorted through the phone laying on the purple-clad turtle's desk.

"Yes, indeed. I'm running low on tylenol. But, another reason to share the workload. Less research for each of us if we share our discoveries. It might be helpful to restate everything you know about the substance, whether it seems useful or not. You never know what might end up useful."

Donnie sighed, reached for a notebook on his desk, and flipped through it, scanning its contents with dull, reddened eyes. He sighed. "Let's see. It is a fuchsia color when separated from mutagen. It is from Dimension X," he almost slurred, "When added to mutagen, the mutagen does not alter the recipient aside from introducing the substance. It bubbles when exposed to a considerable amount of sound. Even taken from its home dimension, it still has different time properties than Earth. It has a faint glow when-"

"Different time properties?" Dr. Rockwell's voice interrupted. "How did you figure that out?"

Donnie absently swirled his hand as he explained. "The weight of the substance suggests it is much denser than water, yet it takes less time to move when disturbed. I was expecting it to ooze like molasses when it flows like air."

Rockwell hummed. "Perhaps, but there are other properties that could produce the same result. That does not necessarily mean that it has time-altering abilities."

"I thought about that." Donatello pointed a finger matter-of-factly. "But the tests of-"

Michelangelo tuned out of the explanation that followed, not that he would have understood. His eyes flicked side to side as he thought. Time-altering abilities? Was that what the Kraang wanted to give the humans?

Cool! How awesome would it be to go back and see what it was like, or forward, and witness what the future holds? It would open up a whole new realm of possibility.

Of course, a whole new realm of possibility in the hands of the Kraang would make them all the more dangerous.

The thought snapped him back to the present, to the task at hand.

"Well, it has been a relief talking to you, Donatello. My brain still feels fried, but I can sort it out enough to get back to work now."

Donnie stretched. "Same here. Keep me updated if you find anything. Bye." He tapped his phone and returned it to his belt.

Michelangelo walked up to the desk. "Donnie?"

Mikey frowned when Donnie's posture drooped upon registering his presence.

Still, Donnie opted to amuse him. "Yes, Mikey?"

"I think the Kraang are going to mutate humans so they can-"

"We don't know the Kraang are going to use the mutagen on humans, though."

Mikey blinked. "What?"

"We don't know their plan, and we need to consider all their options. They could be using the mutagen on animals, or even themselves."

"But they usually use it on humans."

Donatello shook his head. "Doesn't mean they are this time. Ugh, we know so little about their plan!" He stood and paced the room. "If we could know just a little more, it would make preventing it so much easier!" He sighed. "They really kept any information out of reach this time. Guess they learned, probably from all the other times we stopped them. The more I think, the more questions there are! I'm getting nowhere!"

Mikey held up a finger, then dropped it. Maybe he'd picked the wrong time to come here. On the other hand, maybe he could clear things up for Donnie. Or make them worse. Either way, he didn't want to have to come back.

"But if they are," he said, "Do you think-"

"Mikey?"

Michelangelo glanced behind him to see Leonardo standing in the doorway.

"Donnie is under a lot of pressure right now. You should leave him to it."

"But I thought-"

"He's working under a deadline." Leo glared at him. "There's a lot riding on his research."

"I can help!"

Michelangelo glanced from Leo to Donnie, hoping for some support.

They both gave him the same annoyed stare.

Leo sighed. "I know you mean well, but your 'help' has cost him projects before."

"Not on purpose! And I said I was sorry for those."

"Sorry doesn't make up for lost time," Donatello said. "We can't risk that now."

Mikey fought down the feeling that was roiling in his throat. "I'm not gonna touch any of your science-y stuff, just listen. The Kraang-"

"Are going to take over, if you don't let us focus on what we need to," Leo interrupted. "You're already wasting time arguing this with us!"

"I think-"

"Enough!" Donnie slammed his fists on his desk, jolting the vials and beakers that stood on it. "Leo's right. Your dumb ideas have gotten us into trouble one time too many, can't you make sure this doesn't end up being another instance on that list? How can I put this in a way it will get through your skull?" He prodded Mikey's forehead with an index finger, not gently. "You aren't needed here. Don't slow us down."

Mikey searched for any trace of regret in either of their faces. Nothing.

They were serious. They wanted him gone.

Michelangelo ducked his head, unwilling to look at their expressions any longer. He hugged himself with a muttered "Sorry," and shuffled out of the lab.

Right. Stupid. How could he forget.

Best to keep his idiotic thoughts to his idiotic self.


	19. Chapter 19

April had sensed the uneasy atmosphere that had hung about the lair recently, and chose to keep mostly to herself. She was sure Donnie would jump to invite her again when things eased up, or if the turtles needed help.

That wasn't to say she was unaware of what was going on. From what each of the guys had texted her here and there, she had pieced the story together, and had made sure they knew to notify her of any updates.

The second to last text she had received was one such update from Leo, saying that the Foot had taken the mutagen, and they had nowhere to go from there. She had, in response, told him she would patrol the streets for any clues, as she was doing at the moment, while it was still too light for the team to come to the surface.

The text after that was from Donnie, asking if she wished to call, as his brain was fried and he wanted a break.

She answered in the affirmative, and was waiting for her T-phone to ring its familiar tune as she walked the streets.

As soon as the jingle hit its first note, she answered and held it to her ear.

"Hey, April."

The customary two-word greeting held the warmth Donnie always addressed her with, but a wave of weariness still resonated from behind the blanket of geniality.

"I haven't heard from you much," April said, turning the street corner.

Donnie chuckled awkwardly, something he seemed to do an awful lot when she was around. She'd never heard him do so when he wasn't aware of her presence.

"Uh, yeah. Things have been… eventful around here, and not eventful enough."

She nodded sympathetically. "Not much progress, then?"

"You can skip the 'much' in the phrase and just stick with the 'not'. There's so much we don't know about the Kraang plot. The only thing we do have going for us, is that I have a batch of retromutagen already made. But I even only have a few doses of that, not enough to reverse mutations for an entire- I don't even know!"

"I'm sorry. I wish there was more I could do."

"No, you're doing great with what you're able to."

A pause.

"I mean!" Donnie hurried to say, "You're doing great, period! It's not that you're not able to do a lot, that's not what I intended to say! I mean that's not how I meant to say it! I mean, that's not what I meant to say at all, I just realized that the phrasing I chose had an unintended implication, and-" He audibly facepalmed through the phone. "I appreciate you patrolling today! You're great, April! You're wonderful, absolutely wonderful!"

April chose to spare him. "How are you feeling?"

Donatello sighed, whether from exhaustion or relief was unclear. "I'm not great."

She paused, waiting for him to continue.

"I… actually feel kinda horrible."

"Your head?"

"Well, that certainly doesn't help anything," he muttered.

She raised a brow. "Is something wrong? Other than the obvious."

He paused for a long time.

April's voice grew soft. "Donnie. You can tell me. Talking might help."

He hesitated. "It's… it's not your problem."

"You're carrying all of New York's problem. Let me help you with yours."

Another few seconds ticked by.

"...Mikey and I had a fight."

April started. "Mikey fought you?"

"No, no, that's inaccurate. He wanted to help me and I yelled at him."

April lowered her phone and took a breath. She wanted to be angry at Donnie, but she also knew how he usually took such good care of his little brother. There had to be a reason, if shouldering what could be a weight to change the entire future weren't enough already. She raised the phone to her ear. "What happened?"

Donnie sighed. "Well, I was working in my lab, making no progress on the compound as per usual, and he comes in and says he has an idea, about the Kraang. And you know how Mikey's ideas usually end up. But I decided to hear him out; you never know, and my brain was all but mush at the moment. But then Leo came in and told him to leave me to my work, and I just-" he groaned. "I just jumped on! Started saying all these mean things, I didn't even intend to be so harsh, I just- was. I messed up. I really messed up. And that's not the only time, either. I was rude to Raph, too, when he was only trying to look out for me. April, this pressure, it's all getting to me! I don't know what I'm doing."

April quelled her urge to lecture him on the actions he already regretted, and instead tried to reassure him.

"Well," she offered, "Mikey wasn't really great at not messing your projects. He'll stay out of your lab. You won't have to worry about lost time."

"...Yeah. That too."

April tilted her head to one side. "Too?"

"I mean, Mikey messing up all my stuff was annoying, but…" He trailed off.

April stayed silent as she walked, pressing him to continue.

"He's safer if he stays out."

"That's why you-"

"Every time he walks into my lab, the first thought in my head isn't what he's going to break or sabotage or how much time he's gonna waste- although those are common second thoughts- it's how he's going to get himself burned, or cut, or double-mutated. So many of the machines and chemicals I work with are so dangerous. I only work with them because I have a lot of knowledge and experience with them, but Mikey doesn't.

"I've been warned if you mix this chemical with that, it will create a potent toxic gas that will kill everyone within a hundred yards. I know that if you put this wire into that circuit, it won't conduct electricity properly, and could possibly explode. I know how to secure a vehicle for maintenance so that it won't crush you when you're working on it. Mikey doesn't."

"Oh, Donnie…"

"He doesn't know these things, and he has access to all of those dangerous chemicals and tech through me. He scares me."

"You were just looking out for him."

"Yeah, by being the worst brother ever. He looked so heartbroken, I had to give it my all to keep an angry face. Oh, I want to go to him right now and apologize. He… things haven't been normal around here lately. He's been strangely down. Quiet. But I've been looking for an opportunity to get him to stay out of my lab for the longest time, so when Leo started getting on his case, I joined in. He's bound to listen to both of us. But he was already off before, so yelling at him…"

"Felt like bad timing?" April offered.

"The worst. I want to make it up to him, but it- it seems like this time- he finally got it this time. I think he'll stay away now, but I'd just erase all that if I admitted I was harsh. So what's worse, living with knowing he thinks I meant all of it, or risk having him get himself hurt at the hands of one of my experiments again?"

April nodded to herself. "It seems like you need to hear each other out. He has something to say, and you want him to stop-"

"It doesn't work."

"What?"

"Any warnings I give him, he'll just brush them off. Like he didn't even hear me, or doesn't care."

"Why would you think-"

"I don't want a repeat of shellacne. Even after all the warnings I gave him, he still almost got himself killed!"

April's eyes widened. "Donnie, you don't blame yourself for that, do you?"

She did not like the silence that followed.

April purposefully allowed the silence to grow, hoping Donatello would eventually cave to his awkwardness and elaborate.

A familiar face caught the corner of her eye, and she turned to it just in time to see a Kraang, in human form, disappear around the next corner.

Feeling like the worst friend to ever walk Earth, she said, "I think I'm onto something. I'll have to call you back," and hung up.

She glanced around to make sure the disguised robot didn't have any companions before increasing her pace, maneuvering around fellow pedestrians to get to the corner.

April turned onto the next street just in time to see the Kraangdroid disappear into an alleyway. She surveyed the street as she walked stealthily down it, and found a fire escape in the alley next to the one the droid had disappeared into.

She dashed to a dumpster under the fire escape, leapt onto it, crouched into an almost froglike position, and sprung for it. Hoping the sound that echoed about the alley when her hands curled around two of its bars didn't alert the alien, she pulled herself onto the platform, and dashed up the stairs.

The droid she had seen reached its spot as she reached hers, perched on the building's roof ledge.

It faced a second Kraangdroid, also in human form, who was standing guard in front of the building's side entrance.

"Kraang is to alert Kraang that all Kraang are to report to the place that is known as TCRI," the robot she had followed said. "There, Kraang is needed to help with the commencement of the project which is known as the project to capture humans for mutation."

"When is that which is known as the capturing of the humans to mutation occurring?"

"The capturing of the humans is to commence in three of the units known as hours. That which is known as the mutation of the humans is to commence in nine of the units known as hours. Kraangs' glorious leader, Kraang Prime, will be attending that which is known as the mutation of the humans."

"Kraang is that which is known as excited."


	20. Chapter 20

Donatello was half relieved when April hung up, though he still wished to talk for a while longer. Looking at the same things on his desk for hours on end was becoming sickening.

He left his workspace and went to the kitchen to get some water and something small to eat. He knew he should have an actual meal, but once he was working, it was hard to pay much attention to anything but his objective. The snack would prolong his break for only a few minutes, and then he could get back to work.

Donnie selected a protein bar from the kitchen cabinet and filled a glass. While opening the food's package, he noticed his fingertips ached, raw from overworking. Lovely. Another problem to add to his ever-growing list.

He decided to pace the dojo-living room hall to give his back a break from long hours in his chair while he nibbled at the refreshment.

Leo left the dojo as he was passing, and after spotting the dark bags under Donnie's eyes, gave him an understanding nod and continued on.

Donatello made a few laps around the hall, and returned his glass once he was done. The break had done him some good; he could feel the tight knot of confusion start to loosen in his head.

He started down the hall once more, and paused at the living area to observe each of his brothers in turn.

Leonardo had apparently stopped to do the same. Donnie momentarily wondered if Leo chose who fulfilled each role in his plans in the moment, or if he thought it out ahead of time and considered each of their strengths and weaknesses carefully.

It was a question the genius had pondered several times, one that had first emerged when he noticed how well-suited the team's individual members were to the tasks Leo assigned them, and it came to surface once again upon seeing the contemplative expression upon his leader's face as he surveyed each of them. It seemed a logical thing for the eldest turtle to be thinking about at the moment; who would do what during tonight's patrol should they run into any Kraang.

Or maybe he was thinking of the barriers that had appeared between the brothers. That was a reasonable possibility, as well. It couldn't have escaped the blue-clad turtle that his team was not at its best.

Not that Donatello had helped that, he thought bitterly to himself, looking first at Raphael beating the training dummy, then at Michelangelo watching cartoons.

Well, watching wasn't entirely accurate. The youngest turtle lay chest-down on the floor in front of the TV, head pillowed on one arm while he watched the other trace lines on the dull concrete.

Donnie exchanged glances with Leonardo. The lopsided frown Leo gave him said the oldest turtle felt guilty, too, or at very least, troubled.

Donatello mused a few more minutes outside the lab would probably do him some good. He sat right beside his baby brother, a gesture that should have been friendly, but given his recent atrocity, felt nothing short of intrusive.

Donnie wasn't expecting the invisible wall that seemed to stand between them. He knew he should have been expecting it, but he was just so used to Mikey being the one to spark conversation. One of the skills Donnie would admit his little bro did have an advantage over him, was conversation. Regardless, it was worth trying.

"What episode is this?" Donnie asked, taking the first bricks off the top of the invisible wall.

"I dunno," Michelangelo admitted.

For most people, that answer would have been considered progress, but Michelangelo was usually so passionate about his cartoons. To Donnie, Mikey had just put another brick on the wall.

Donatello panicked in the silence that followed. Breaks. Breaks were not good. Breaks made conversations seem choppy; forced. He knew that from several awkward conversations with April.

Those were more instances Donnie wished he had his brother's social intelligence.

How did Mikey usually keep people engaged in talking? He'd bring up the strangest points. People would be interested because they never saw what Mikey said coming, and even if it was to only dismiss the young turtle's comments as far-fetched, his additions kept the conversation going.

Then maybe he should try to say something strange?

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be a flower?"

Mikey turned to him, eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

Maybe that was a little too much. Donnie could feel Leo's gaze on him. He realized Mikey usually provided those kinds of outbursts; it was charming when it was him because it was so… him. For Donatello to bring up something outlandish was uncharacteristic. It felt forced. Donnie mused that was probably because it was.

Nevertheless, he had Mikey's attention.

"You know." he shrugged. "It would be… different. Just… in a field, not doing much. Sun, rain… might be peaceful."

Michelangelo stared at him.

Donnie struggled to think of more to say. Each time silence fell between them, it felt like mortar pouring between the bricks of the invisible wall, like each failed attempt would further cement the unlikeliness of the wall breaking down.

"And humans come up with all sorts of meanings for them. There are entire websites dedicated to what each one means, and each usually has more than one meaning. The meanings can even be so detailed, that different colors of the same species of flower can have specific meanings. For example, it's specifically the pink carnation that says, 'I'm sorry', and the purple hyacinths that ask forgiveness, and…" He realized the rabbit trail his subconscious was leading him down, and cut himself off.

Cement poured between the bricks. Donnie let it this time. He couldn't risk apologizing to Mikey. Mikey would just get himself hurt.

If talking about something bizarre was plain uncharacteristic, Donatello reasoned talking about the things he usually liked talking about would be more natural. There were plenty of subjects, too. His projects, new tech, metallurgy, advanced theories… all of which would be rubbing salt in a wound after he called his brother an idiot.

"Hey, flower boy, have you figured the mutagen out yet?" Raph said.

"I'm working on it," Donnie replied.

"It really doesn't look like it," Raph said, gesturing to Donnie, then the TV screen he was sitting in front of.

Donatello supposed Raph was still sore from when he had chewed him out, and tried to brush his tone off.

"Taking a short break."

"Great, and just before the Kraang plot. Sounds like a wonderful idea."

Donnie raised a brow at him. "If you want to identify a strange alien substance for me, be my guest."

"At least I'd be doing something."

Donnie tried to read Raph's expression, but couldn't tell what he meant- that Raph wanted to help out, or he was criticizing Donnie for spending time outside his lab. Maybe both.

He tried to ignore it. "Best to clear my head before starting again."

"Something you obviously didn't do before taking the hook swords."

Ah. So he was still upset.

Leo scowled at Raph. "Leave him alone. He's been working hard."

"He's the only one of us who can do anything, and he's not!"

So much for letting his mind rest. Who could relax with those two at each other's throats?

"Donnie's well aware of what could be at stake, he is acting accordingly. If taking some time is what he thinks is best, then I trust him with that decision."

Raph stepped closer to Leo, fists clenched. "Are you kidding? Time is exactly what we don't have to spare!"

"Especially once the Kraang mutate the humans to control it," Mikey said, not looking up from the floor.

Donatello stared at him, eyebrows raised. "What?"

It took Michelangelo a second to realize what he'd said. His eyes grew wide, then he shrugged, looking away from Donnie.

Raphael pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mikey, that's impossible. Stay out of this."

Donnie shook his head, thinking it through. "It's completely possible."

Mikey met his gaze.

"What are you talking about?" Leo asked.

"The substance has strange time properties. It took me a while to realize, since it's a Dimension X compound. At first, I thought that was normal for Dimension X things, having the temporal differential and all, but then I realized that those laws would no longer apply once the material was removed from the dimension. If it really does allow manipulation over time, it makes sense that it would be the characteristic of the substance the Kraang would want to control."

Leo scratched his chin. "But if that's the case, then the humans would gain time control abilities, but still be mostly human. They wouldn't be dependent on the Kraang like they were during the invasion; why would the humans work for them?"

"They wouldn't have a choice if they were mind-controlled," Raph said.

The four exchanged glances.

"What do you think the Kraang would want time control for?" Leo asked.

Donnie tapped a finger against his opposite arm. "They could use it for a number of things, depending on how powerful this substance is. But with the sheer amount of mutagen they have in their possession, if they manage to control that many humans, best case scenario is they use it to predict each of our attacks so that we can never stop them again."

"Uh, that was the best case?" Mikey said.

Donatello nodded. "Worst case, they gain control of all of history and rewrite the world as we know it."

"Yeah," Leo said, "Yeah, that's bad."

"So you're serious?" Raph asked. "You think the Kraang are trying to control time?"

"It's the most logical answer."

Raph frowned. "Then what do we do?"

At that moment, Donatello's phone rang. April. Best to update her.

He put it on speaker. "Hey, April."

"Donnie!" Her panicked voice sent Donatello's heart plummeting to his stomach. "The Kraang are going to start capturing humans in less than three hours, and they're not waiting long to mutate them after that!"

The turtles started.

Leonardo leaned closer to the phone. "Do you know where their base is?"

"It's TCRI again. That's where they're planning to take everyone."

"Are you alright?" Donatello asked.

"I'm fine. They didn't see me spying. I'm heading to the lair as we speak."

"No," Leo said. "We need to leave right away. You tell everyone who will listen to barricade themselves inside."

"But we're going to need help," Mikey said.

"We'll ask the Mutanimals. Their lair is pretty close to TCRI."

"I talked to Dr. Rockwell today," Donnie said. "From what he told me, they should be on patrol on the other side of town about now."

"Notify them. We'll have to start by ourselves. They can come as reinforcements whenever they arrive."

"Stay safe, guys," April murmured.

"You, too," Donnie replied. "Thanks for all your help." The call ended from the other side.

Leo motioned for them to head to the Shellraiser. "We have to go. Now."

Donatello ducked into his lab and fetched the last of his retromutagen, just in case, before racing to the Shellraiser.

Despite the countless hours he had spent trying to be prepared, he felt anything but as they started towards their destination.


	21. Chapter 21

The turtles arrived at TCRI about two hours before the Kraang planned to start capturing humans. They hid the Shellraiser in an alleyway and climbed onto a nearby roof to observe the building.

Leonardo looked through his spyglass into the first story, which even after the Kraang rebuilt it, was still composed mostly of windows.

"It's exactly the same," Donatello said. "Like it was never damaged at all."

Leo pulled his spyglass away from his face. "Not exactly. They must have learned the elevator is our fastest way up. There's a second wall around the elevator, and it looks like it's locked." He collapsed the spyglass and returned it to his belt. "Even if we get past it, there might be more precautions inside that we can't see. We'll have to find another way in."

"We could get in through the middle-floor window," Donnie suggested, pointing to the glass that striped the middle stories of the building.

Leonardo looked at where he was pointing. "Even if we climbed onto the nearest rooftop, it's too far to get there by grappling hook. Unless you all brought your gliders."

Michelangelo tapped his index fingertips together.

"Well, it's not our fault you rushed us out of the lair!" Raphael said.

Leo glared at him. "It's a ninja's job to always be prepared."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Right, 'cause I'm gonna lug a heavy piece of equipment around with me everywhere, just in case this is the one time I'll need it."

Leo gritted his teeth and did his best to ignore his brother. "Looks like we'll have to climb it," he said. "Each of the ledges are close enough together for us to get to the window if we started at the bottom of the building."

"TCRI is such a big place, it has its own little lawn. It's open, and we'll have to cross it. We run the risk of being spotted if we go from the front. The left side is close to another building," Donnie offered. "It will hide us from humans until we're too high up for them to notice."

Leo gave him a nod of thanks. "Then that's where we'll start. Come on."

The turtles leapt from roof to roof until they were on the left side of the building. They then climbed down and dashed to the side, where they launched their grappling hooks for the lowest ledge, and used them to help lift them up as they climbed up the building's side. Then they repeated for two more ledges, until they were at the window.

Only their heels fit on the narrow concrete strip, and Leonardo leaned his back to the wall as he examined the corner they had to round in order to get to their entry. The ledge grew steadily narrower as it neared the corner.

A mechanical whirring caught his attention, and he saw a camera perched on the wall swivel. A pink, kaleidoscope-like lens slowly turned.

Leo's hand flew for a shuriken, and he disabled the security device with one quick throw. He only hoped the camera hadn't spotted them; it was impossible to tell exactly where the frame was on that confusing of a lens.

With the camera disabled, he drew his attention to rounding the corner. He switched to his toes and inched to the side, using his hands behind him as balance on the cool concrete. The wall was nice to have for the sake of security, but it wouldn't do anything if he slipped.

Leonardo glanced down to check if there was anything on the wall below him he could grab if he fell. Bad idea.

The people below were the size of mice. The ground seemed so far, yet so… permanent. There was nothing to stop him falling.

He hurriedly redirected his gaze to the corner, and inched sideways a little more. The ledge was the size of a cable now.

The turtles had crossed cables with no problem, even run across them, as they had done during Leo's training exercise in Chinatown. But then, they'd had the advantage of being able to balance on both sides, as opposed to being blocked on one.

Not to mention they hadn't been eighty feet in the air.

Leonardo edged closer, closer, closer. Almost to the corner now. He regarded his next step on the ledge with a frown. It didn't look like quite enough space to stand.

As he would discover when he slipped, that was because it wasn't.

He fought to keep his other foot on the ledge, but it was no use. He lost his footing and fell. Air whooshed past him. He felt like screaming, but air rushed into his open mouth, preventing him from making any noise.

Then pain jolted his wrist. He winced at the sudden stop, and looked up.

Raphael leaned over the ledge, holding Leo's wrist, arms spread wide to hold both his brother and the handle of the sai he'd speared through the camera for balance. He tugged at Leo's arm, but in such an awkward position, he didn't have enough leverage to pull his brother to safety.

Donnie produced his bo staff and tried to hold it out for Leo to grab, but couldn't get close enough, and stopped trying after almost slipping himself.

Michelangelo saw what Donnie was trying to do and swung his kusarigama around the opposite corner, tied the unused end around his own wrist, and wrapped an arm around Donnie's chest.

With the added support, Donatello was able to offer Leo the end of his bo.

Leo took it with a relieved smile.

Raph looked at Donnie and indicated the building's corner with a tilt of his head.

Donatello hummed his understanding.

Raphael mouthed a countdown from three, and upon reaching one, they both swung Leonardo around the side of the building.

Leo found his footing on the other side and let go of Raph's hand. He kept the bo staff.

Raph rounded the corner a few seconds later on climbing claws, and stopped closer to the corner than Leo, before removing his left claws and pocketing them.

Raphael extended his un-clawed hand around the corner, and with a death grip on Raph's hand, Donnie tiptoed around it. When Donnie was too far for Raph to reach, Leo guarded Donatello's open side with the bo staff until the genius turtle was on a safe amount of ledge, at which point Donnie took his weapon and covered Mikey once Raphael had helped him across.

They crept to the window.

Leonardo drew his swords and made sure his team was ready. He flipped his sword so its blade extended past the heel of his palm, drew his arm across his chest, and smashed the window with a swing.

Cracks spiderwebbed over the glass, but it didn't break.

Leonardo fidgeted his sword until it came loose, and swung it again.

The window cracked further, but held.

He freed the sword, and launched it at the window once more.

The glass shattered and sprayed over the floor.

Leonardo motioned his brothers to be careful, and ducked into TCRI.

He weaved through the shards on the floor, and came to rest at the room's door. The team was close behind.

Habitually, Leo checked to make sure none of them were hurt. Of course, none of them were, they hadn't gotten the chance yet, but he noticed Mikey was visibly distressed. Although he was the only one to show it, he most likely wasn't the only one who felt it. He was just the most expressive.

Leonardo allowed them a minute to relax and prepare, to settle their nerves. Who knew when they might get the chance again?

When he judged they were ready to continue, he drew his sword and grabbed the doorknob. His brothers fell into place beside and behind him.

He pulled the door open.

There, waiting for them, were hundreds of Kraangdroids, eyes and guns already pointed to the door.

The turtles had only a second to prepare, most of which was taken by their surprised hesitation. They rushed out into the crowd as fire opened.

"They knew we were coming!" Donnie yelled, deflecting lasers with a twirl of his staff.

Leo internally cursed. The camera.

The four tried to push the Kraang back, to give themselves more space. The Kraang pushed back, swallowing their way back to the door in the process.

Raph fought by Leonardo's right side, Donnie by his left, and Mikey to his back.

When he registered this, his first thought was he hoped Mikey had learned not to leave his back unguarded.

His second thought came to argue the first. If Michelangelo couldn't take all the Kraang he was fighting, Leonardo would much rather take the shot for him. Same for any of his brothers.

That was what he most despised about leading. About fighting. No matter how hard he might try, if someone were to get hurt, he could never be sure it wasn't his family.

Looking at the number of Kraang around them, the possibility of someone getting hurt was growing likelier and likelier.

The Kraang were expecting them this time, and weren't underestimating them. Unlike any of their other missions, they didn't have the element of surprise. There were more enemies now than there were then, as well.

No matter how many robots they eliminated, there was always one to step in its place, one to close the circle around them, one to draw the ring confining them even tighter, more suffocating.

Amidst all the chaos, Leonardo noticed Raph's patterned way of wiping the Kraang out. It was mechanical. Predictable.

The Kraang had begun to predict it, too. They closed in even tighter around him than around anyone else.

One robot had grasped his pattern, and out of Raphael's field of view, raised his blaster to strike.

"Raph!"

Leonardo dropped his sword and shoved Raph aside.

Pain shocked his shoulder, and the force knocked him to the ground. He was relieved, though. He'd saved Raph from the blow.

Or so he thought, until he saw Raphael grimacing on the ground next to him, blood oozing from his head.

The Kraang closed in, on top of them now. They pointed their lasers down at the oldest two turtles, and at the unprotected backs of their younger brothers.

"Surrender, turtles. You are that which is known as defeated."

No, they would mutate the humans! They would control time! They would become an unstoppable force! The turtles would never be able to stop them! They wouldn't stand a chance!

But what chance would they stand if the Kraang killed them here and now?

Leonardo's heart dropped. He hesitated, let go his other sword, and held his hands up.

Robot hands jerked him to stand. Mechanical hands pushed his hands together behind him and shoved them into pinching alien handcuffs.

They pulled Raphael to his feet beside him.

Leonardo saw Raph's chin droop to his chest, and he prayed his brother was only tired.

Donatello let out a whimper, making Leo's heart break in two.

And although Michelangelo's face, again being the most expressive, mirrored his own feelings, Leo's broken heart shattered at the sight of it.

As the Kraang pushed them down the corridor, Leo fought to keep himself collected. Losing it would only further upset his brothers.

Michelangelo asked what Leo had to keep himself from saying.

"What now?"


	22. Chapter 22

Raphael stumbled and fell onto the floor of their containment when the Kraang shoved him in after his brothers. The jolt when he connected with the ground jarred his head, and he grimaced.

The red-clad turtle shot to his feet and tried to lunge for the Kraang that had thrown them in their cell, only to have a second guard activate the forcefield that closed the cell. Raph ran into the pink wall at full force and sent another shock through his throbbing head.

He pounded his fists against the semitransparent barrier and watched as the robot soldiers tossed their trusty weapons aside like unwanted toys.

Donatello grabbed his shoulder and turned him away from the forcefield. At first, Raphael thought it was to keep him from focusing on the Kraang, but then Donnie tipped Raph's chin to bring his bleeding scalp under direct light.

What, so Donnie could see if Raph was okay, but Raphael couldn't ask the same? The hypocrite!

Raphael swatted Donatello's hand away. If Donnie wasn't going to say what had happened to him- why he had hurt himself with those stupid weapons- well, then he had no business in trying to help anyone else heal! Did the 'genius' really think he could save anyone else when he was hurt, as well?

Donnie backed up at Raph's dismissal, looking at him with eyes full of pity, and turned to Leo instead.

Raphael glanced at Leonardo's shoulder.

It was already discolored, bound to be an ugly mark by the time it stopped bruising.

What was Leo thinking, trying to take the blow for him? Now they were both hurt. As if the failed mission weren't already enough.

Raph hadn't stepped out of line, not once! He had made sure to be cautious the entire time. He'd followed Leo's every order, and even told himself to tone down the fighting style his brothers had more than once called overaggressive. It still wasn't enough. Despite his best efforts, he had been the one to slip up, the one to cost them their chance at getting into TCRI without being captured.

Now the Kraang were bound to succeed, and Leo was hurt. Not that Leo should have stepped in in the first place.

"Donnie, can you disable the forcefield?" Leo said once the majority of the Kraang guards had left. Two had remained stationed on either side of the cell.

"There's no control panel of any type," Donatello replied, searching the empty square room. "I suppose if I had access to the wires running to it…" He pulled at the grooves in the walls and floor where metal plates came together. After several minutes of testing each possible plate, he glanced around their cell a final time. "I don't have access to anything. I can't."

Leonardo stroked his chin and stared at the ground.

Donnie examined the forcefield closer. His face was inches from it when it flickered, and he jumped back as an unfriendly face appeared on its surface. "The forcefield is also a hologram," He murmured, looking at the image projected onto it.

Leonardo curled his fists and glared defiantly into the holographic screen. "Kraang Prime."

The image of Kraang Prime grinned, corners of her mouth stretching to reveal numerous horrible, daggerlike teeth. "Turtles." She laughed, an unpleasant, otherworldly sound. "So kind of you to show up and turn yourselves in for Kraang. Now Kraang can proceed with the plan without your annoying interruptions."

"You won't get away with this, Kraang!" Leo declared, jabbing a finger dramatically at the screen.

Raphael rolled his eyes. The dork spent way too much time watching Space Heroes.

Kraang Prime raised an eye ridge. "Kraang was almost skeptical when Kraang told Kraang that the turtles had been captured so early. Kraang had to come see, and how delightful."

"The background!" Donnie said. "Look at the background of the image. I know that place. She must be at the top level of the building."

Kraang's nasty grin grew. "Of course. Kraang would not turn down the opportunity to have a front-row seat to the fun. Kraang has such a great view from up here."

"We're going to stop you," Leo said.

"Oh, are you? Well, it seems you're doing well. You're just in time to witness one of Kraang's favorite parts." Kraang sat taller. "Kraang, begin that which is known as the final phase in Kraang's plan. Capture the humans."

At the command, Kraangdroids poured out of halls and doors beyond the containment, going to their assigned task.

With a sneer at the turtles, the image of Kraang Prime disappeared.


	23. Chapter 23

Raphael watched through the semitransparent barrier as the Kraang moved to their designated tasks.

The robotic soldiers paid the turtles no mind as they passed in uniform motion, pulled forward by the invisible strings of Kraang Prime's control.

Raph glared at them. He wanted to stab them through their stupid robot skulls. He wanted to rip their limbs apart at the joints and use those limbs to beat them to the ground. He wanted to bash them into tiny pieces until none of them were capable of even thinking of the plans they were so close to carrying out. Not being able to reach them now, watching them march by, he felt so… powerless.

Raphael paced by the forcefield like a caged tiger, arms crossed tight over his chest. "Great! This is just fantastic!"

Donatello gave a hollow chuckle. "Yeah. I would have given anything to have known what the Kraang were up to a few days ago, and now I finally know, and I still can't do anything about it!" He gestured to the forcefield, and let his hand fall by his side with a sigh.

"If only we'd known what they were up to a little sooner," Leonardo said.

Michelangelo hugged himself and stared at the floor.

Donatello looked at Mikey, reading him. Donnie shifted, glanced around the room. He fidgeted with his hands. His facial expression momentarily changed to something Raph couldn't read in the brief second it lasted. It almost looked like his face had glitched.

Leo looked at Donnie, then at Michelangelo, and his eyes shifted between the two as he thought, then they grew wide. "Wait," the eldest said, "Mikey, was that what you were trying to tell us?

Michelangelo's nervous chuckle sent off a red flag in Raph's mind. Mikey didn't elaborate, but crumbled under his brothers' stares.

Raph looked at Donnie.

The genius's face 'glitched' again. He managed to keep still a while, and then his lip quivered, and he caved.

"Mikey, I'm so- I'm- I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry! I never should have-!" The words flooded out, a burst dam, almost incomprehensible. "I didn't mean it, I swear! You're not an idiot, never were. I never wanted to hurt you, you just- you just scare me half to death getting yourself in danger, and I don't want anything to happen to you, I'm so sorry I used those awful things as an excuse, and it probably didn't help that I was so worked up at the time, ugh, I didn't mean to take out all my stress on you, you didn't deserve that, I don't-" His words soon jumbled together in a speed no one could keep up with.

"Woah, Donnie, slow down!" Mikey held his palms out towards his babbling sibling. "Apology accepted, but can you talk so we can understand you?"

"I'm really sorry. We should listen to you. We haven't done a great job of that, have we?"

Mikey hugged himself tighter and avoided their gazes. "No, not really."

Donnie nodded. "Well, we're listening now."

Michelangelo glanced at him, then at Leo, who also nodded, and then Raph.

"You never take me seriously. There are times I show you I can do better, like the Squirrelanoids and the wasps and at the farmhouse with April's mom, but no matter how much I try to prove that I can actually do something, there's a little time where you all do listen, and then everything goes back to normal. Like it never happened. Like I never did anything. And I know you think I'm an idiot, and that's probably true, but I don't think I should just not say anything. I was right about the Kraang plot right now, and I was the one to figure out their plan to mutate the Earth a few years ago, and I finished the antidote for the wasps so no one got eaten and- and you just forgot about that, didn't you? I'm just a stupid kid to you, and that's why I always end up the bait, because all of you are doing the jobs that take smarts, isn't it?"

Raph's heart dropped. He certainly hadn't helped Mikey feel better these past weeks.

Donnie looked at his little brother, eyes brimming with pity. "Aww, Mikey. I'm so sorry. You're different, but we never should have brushed off different as wrong. Look at us, we're talking turtles, different as can be, and we're the ones who saved the world from the Kraang on several occasions. There's nothing wrong with us. You have a unique perspective, and I should have listened to that. Although your approach may not be the most logical, you embrace the bizarre while I'm quick to turn down any concept that seems too fantastical, and I really should have learned better after aliens came into play. You see the world in a way no one else sees, and you can help to fill in the gaps our perspectives can't reach. You entertained the idea of the Kraang giving humans powers while I probably dismissed the concept as farfetched, and look what happened."

Both Donatello and Michelangelo were on the verge of tears now.

Donnie continued, "So maybe I saw hearing you out as a little… unfair, but I should have. I really should have listened."

Mikey raised his eyebrows. "Unfair?"

Donnie hesitated, then sighed, dragging his hand down his face. "I… uh…" He shook his head. "I used the insults as an excuse to get you to stay out of my lab… because I'm afraid you'll get hurt. You don't listen to my warnings, or even look for any on anything that could be potentially dangerous, like when I labelled the back of the rejected mutagen and you still ended up with shellacne."

"Oh." Mikey tilted his head. "Yeah, I guess it was kinda not cool of me to not listen to you and then expect you to do different for me. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ignored the stickers on your mutagen."

Donnie started. "Ignored? I thought you hadn't seen them."

Mikey stepped back and returned to staring at his feet, shoulders hunched.

Raph felt like he had been punched in the gut. Something had struck him as odd about the reject mutagen, but he hadn't realized, it didn't make sense for Mikey, who was attracted to bright colors and pretty and shiny things, to not notice the stickers all over the mutagen jar.

"You read the warnings," Donnie said, "And you chose to mutate yourself regardless?"

Mikey shrugged.

Raph glared at the cowering turtle. He wanted to shout, to scream. He wanted to yell, to tell Michelangelo exactly how reckless he was and how much danger he was in and never to do that again. No words he thought of, no matter how loud he said them, seemed enough. Yet, it entirely expressed what he wanted to say, when so quietly, Donnie said,

"Do we really make you feel that bad?"

Michelangelo stayed silent.

Donnie exhaled sharply, rushed forward, and enveloped Mikey in a giant hug.

Michelangelo hesitated, surprised, then wrapped his arms around Donatello.

Emotions washed over Raphael, so many unwelcome emotions. Guilt shocked his system; all the times he had poked fun of his brothers, every snarky comment, coming back to get him. Looking at his youngest siblings breaking the walls that had formed between them he also felt… jealous. He pushed it down. No, that wasn't jealousy. He was happy for them, glad someone was finally feeling a little better, after all these long weeks. Good for them. The feeling that wasn't jealousy returned when Leonardo walked to their side and hugged them both.

Donatello and Michelangelo welcomed him in with an arm around him each.

They soon broke apart, but Leonardo held onto Michelangelo's arm.

"Mikey, I'm sorry. I didn't realize-" He shook his head. "Mikey, I need you to understand. The reason I choose you to distract our opponents? It isn't because you're any less useful or intelligent than anyone else. Like Donnie said, you have a unique perspective. You have different skills. I choose you as a distraction because you know how to deal with people. You can meet someone and understand them, like you've known them for months. I choose you because you can understand a person right away and know what will keep them distracted, and act accordingly. I can count on you to know what to do in those situations; someone less socially inclined would run the risk of losing the enemy's attention."

Michelangelo thought on this. He chuckled and rubbed his neck. "That makes sense. I really blew that out of proportion, huh?"

Leonardo gave him a meaningful look. "I'm sorry we made you feel unheard. You can always talk to us about these things, alright?"

For the first time in weeks, Michelangelo smiled a genuine smile, tears falling down his cheeks. "Thanks, guys."

Leonardo smiled back. "Don't forget you're a valuable member of the team. You can switch tasks in a second, like the change doesn't bother you at all. That kind of flexibility is admirable, something I couldn't…" Leo trailed off. "You're important. Remember that."

Donatello tilted his head. "Leo? Is something wrong?"

Leo waved him off.

Mikey used his cutest puppy-dog eyes on his leader. "What is it?"

Leonardo shook his head. "Don't make this about me."

Michelangelo grabbed his hand. "Dude, I already feel so much better. I wanna know what's up with you."

Leonardo tore his attention away from the puppy-dog eyes and looked at Donnie for help.

"He's not gonna let you go until you tell us," Donnie said.

Leo let out a defeated sigh. "I… my plans are… they don't always withstand battle. In fact, they rarely do. There's always so much risk, and so much riding on our success, and-" He glanced at Raph's head, "There's always a chance of someone getting hurt. There's so much to take into account, and I have to pray it doesn't all fall apart at the first sign of trouble. So I watched Mikey fight, and he seemed perfectly fine to just go with the flow, so I tried that with planning, and- and it didn't work! We lost the shipment with no way to track it, and it was all because I wasn't flexible enough! How am I supposed to lead us if I can't figure out which approach is going to work?"

Raph arched a brow. Leo's plans were risky, as he said, but Raphael knew Leo did his very best to lead them, and was the most suited to lead, as evidenced by Raph's horrible attempt to stop Snakeweed. On his very first mission as leader, Raphael had almost gotten Michelangelo killed. Leo was always more careful, didn't he see that? He was way better at protecting his family than someone who just tried to charge at everything that stood against them, Raph thought bitterly.

Donnie stroked his chin. "Wait, so the van that we couldn't track- that was a result of your attempt to 'go with the flow', as you put it?"

Leonardo rubbed his neck. "Yeah."

"Leo, flexibility isn't about rushing in blind. It's about seeing what you have and working with it. You need to use the tools you have in your surroundings at the moment to the best of your advantage. That mission wasn't an example of flexibility, it was inflexibility. You were thinking about it all wrong. That mission was just a result of determination to use as few tools to your advantage as possible- which, it is a good idea to be equipped to fight when the odds are stacked against you- but if you have tools you can use, use them."

Leonardo hummed. "So if I had used what was provided- if I had asked you to bring some kind of tracker to attach to the van- the mission would have succeeded. You do have trackers?"

Donnie nodded. "I do."

Leo facepalmed. "We could have used those!"

"Exactly the right idea. You're not inflexible, Leo. You're just thinking about it the wrong way. Do you remember when we thinned the amount of Kraang guards by luring them down the hallways?"

"Of course."

"Were you trying to be flexible then?"

"No, I'd already figured that didn't work with the van."

Donnie pointed at him. "So you saw a flaw in your approach and fixed it?"

"Yeah, that's- oh. Oh, that's ironic."

Donatello chuckled. "Then, during the mission, we weren't expecting so many guards, you came up with the plan to lure the Kraangdroids away from their posts utilizing our surroundings in the halls to make noise. You came up with that plan on the spot. That was flexibility. Don't beat yourself up; you're more equipped to lead than you give yourself credit for."

"Yeah, bro!" Mikey chimed in. "And what you said about choosing to have me be bait because I'm good at social stuff? You have Donnie do the tech-y stuff, and Raph do the stabby stuff. You know exactly who's best for which job."

"Exactly!" Donnie said. "You know who's capable of what and can act accordingly, maximizing our chances of success. You're a great leader, Leo. You need to see that. I know it's hard for you to see past the negative when you know one of us can get hurt." Donatello cleared his throat. "I, uh… when I knew things were serious with fighting the Kraang and Shredder, when I realized one of us could… I did some calculations. I needed to know what the odds were of one of us…" He trailed off. "I calculated the risk of our missions. I… wasn't happy with the odds. But under your command, we defied those odds, time and time again. The number of times one of us has come back injured from a mission under your leadership is…" He shook his head. "It's a statistical phenomenon."

Leo raised his eyebrows. "Wow."

"We know fighting's dangerous," Mikey said, "But we trust you for a reason."

Leo processed what they had said. "Thanks, guys. I do feel better."

Raph was happy for them. He wasn't jealous.

"While we're being all vulnerable here, is there anything else you want to bring up?" Donnie asked.

Leonardo hummed. "No, not really." He grinned. "How about you?"

His grin faltered when Donatello hesitated.

They waited in silence.

"Might as well say it," Leo said. "If something's bothering you, it isn't going to leave you be until you say so. Better to do something about it sooner rather than later."

Donatello paused. "The reason I tried to learn how to use the hook swords."

Raphael perked up. So the genius was finally going to tell them why he had hurt himself with those weapons.

Donnie hugged himself. "I'm not strong enough to face all the challenges that come at us."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm literally not strong enough. Splinter gave all of us our weapons based on what he thought we'd be best attuned to, what best reflected us. There's a reason I got the one that always breaks! I'm just not...strong. I'm the worst fighter out of all of us, and don't try to deny that, I've gathered too much evidence to support it, and you won't be able to convince me otherwise. Raph can bulldoze Kraangdroids and footbots like it's nothing; I have trouble defending myself against a few. So I tried swapping my weapon, and it was… it was fantastic. I could cut them down and keep moving, and it was exhilarating. I was finally making progress. Some mistakes too, and I cut myself up in the process, but those injuries were minor inconveniences compared to what I was doing against our enemies, what I was doing for all of you."

Raphael fought to keep a neutral face. So he had not only made Mikey and Leo feel like trash, but Donnie, too? Did he ever make the right choice?

Donatello huffed. "I guess my inability just gave a more literal sense to not being able to pull my weight."

"There are other types of strength," Leo said. "I don't know where we'd be if we didn't have you. So what if you aren't the best fighter? It doesn't make you any less important. You've defused bombs and made antidotes and retromutagen. We wouldn't be here if not for you and your talented mind. You've made so many inventions to help us out and you made them with nothing but what you could repurpose from the junkyard. Not to mention you're ahead of most professional scientists in multiple fields of specialization, despite being fifteen and not having any schooling. That's something to be proud of."

"Yeah!" Mikey chimed in. "And when you have an idea, you know what you'll need to make it work and then you just get what you need and make it real!" He bounced on his feet. "It's like you just bring the thing from imagination into real life, and that is just so cool! It's so cool!"

Donnie chuckled. A smile sparkled in his eye.

"We know we expect a lot from you," Leo said. "Your skills are irreplaceable. That's why we count on you to do so much. You more than pull your weight; don't let the literal sense of the phrase tell you otherwise. You were working hard to analyze the substance from day one, and it gave Mikey the information he needed to figure out the Kraang plot."

Donnie nodded. "I guess I could have worked on the substance more and trained with the swords less. That would have been more beneficial to the team."

"And please, please don't hurt yourself trying to change. You're perfect how you are," Leonardo said.

"Not perfect," Donatello argued. "My physical weakness is still a notable flaw; it would be unwise of me to just wave it off. But I understand that my intellectual pursuits are of value to the team. It would be nice to be a little more efficient with the hook swords, instead of the bo staff that always breaks. I'll keep training with them."

When Donatello noticed his brothers' concerned looks, he added, "With wooden weapons, under Master Splinter's instruction to begin. And that training will be low-priority. I'll have it as a little side project, and keep working on my usual projects, and I'll drop it whenever there's something I really need to figure out. It will be only to help with efficiency, nothing more. I'll keep using my bo in regular practices and on patrols." He shrugged. "Fragile or not, the bo is the best weapon for me. I couldn't vault with the hook swords. Hopefully, one day I'll be able to take them both on patrols; I'd feel a lot more secure having a weapon that doesn't break as backup. But until then, my projects come first, as does training with the bo." He smiled at his brothers. "And making time for you."

Leo nodded, satisfied with this answer. "That seems reasonable." He thought. "Wow, bad timing that we all chose to feel insecure right now."

Donatello hummed. "It seems we've all been comparing ourselves. It's possible that this started from one person and spread to the rest of us. Perhaps because of passive-aggressiveness? Either way, that might explain the strange timing. Now I'm curious; I wonder if there's any research on a psychological effect like that and if it has a name. I'll have to look that up."

Started from one of them comparing themselves? Raph hunched his shoulders. Could it have been him?

"Well, the important thing is, we're sorting it out now," Leo said. He looked at Raphael. "You've been awfully quiet."

"Seems all of you have the talking covered."

"Come on, are you sure you don't have anything to say?"

Raphael hoped no one caught the beat of hesitation. "Yes, I'm positive." What, were they insane? They wanted him to share his feelings here, in the Kraang base? Who knows who could be listening, or how they might use such information against them? If they were going to be all soft and vulnerable right now, fine! Good for them! Someone had to stay strong in case their enemies chose to exploit their weaknesses and vulnerabilities that they were so openly stating!

Leo walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Raph, it's okay."

His soft tone made Raphael hesitate again. No, he was fine. He'd done enough damage to the team already; he wasn't going to weigh them down any more by making them carry his problems. He was doing just fine on his own.

"If you want to help me out," Raph growled, "Then try to find us a way out of here so I can clobber the stupid pink brain blobs in their stupid pink faces."

"How?" Donnie asked. "We don't have our weapons, there's nothing in here that can help us, and no one's coming to get us!"

A roar resonated in the distance, followed by the sound of laser fire, and crashes and clangs.

"I know that roar!" Mikey exclaimed, bouncing on his feet.

Raphael smirked. "Are you sure about that, Donnie?"

Leonardo walked to the front of the containment and readied himself. "The Mutanimals are here."


	24. Chapter 24

Kraang guards gathered at the archway of the hall from which the noise came. More stepped into fighting stances around the room, and quite a few perched in front of the turtles' containment.

The aliens and turtles alike waited in apprehension. The room was entirely still.

The noise beyond the hallway stopped. A spell of silence fell over the space.

The Kraang watched the hall. Despite their robot bodies' skeleton-like structure, the machines betrayed the aliens' anxiety- shoulder joints rolled up, elbows locked, fingers gripping their laser triggers- the position almost gave the connecting metals the appearance of tensed muscles.

Seconds ticked by. Seconds turned to minutes.

Michelangelo looked to all of his brothers in turn. Donatello knew he was looking for someone to deny the possibility that the Mutanimals had been defeated, but at the moment, they were all trying to reason around the idea themselves and could offer him no reassurance.

Especially when the array of guards parted to allow two more Kraang through, each tugging on one arm of a slumped Dr. Rockwell.

Donnie gasped and stepped closer to the forcefield. He squinted through the barrier, and cursed the pink light for discoloring his view of his ally. At least he hoped Dr. Rockwell wasn't that sickly colored. Considering the gash spanning his back, though, he couldn't dismiss the possibility.

The Kraang dropped Rockwell onto the hard metal floor and removed his psychic amplifier.

Two more Kraang emerged, carrying a struggling Pigeon Pete.

Pete pecked and squawked at his captors, who promptly threw him next to Rockwell.

One of the robots who had been carrying him produced a taser rod and stopped his resistance with one electric jab.

They dragged the subdued mutants towards a second containment next to the turtles'.

The guards remained parted, indicating they were waiting for the rest of the Mutanimals to come through.

Their lowered lasers indicated they weren't prepared for the rest of the Mutanimals to come through still fighting.

Leatherhead rolled into the room and knocked the robots over like bowling pins.

The Kraang were slow to open fire, giving Slash time to dash in after his friend and eliminate a few more with a swing of his mace.

"Yes!" Raphael cheered.

Leatherhead and Slash both looked worse for wear, but they fought aggressively as always.

Slash knelt by Rockwell and Pete, shell shielding them from laser fire. He scooped the pair up and examined them.

Leatherhead let his defensive instincts take over, and his eyes glossed over white. He charged the Kraang with animal ferocity.

Rockwell stirred. He looked at Slash, then at the turtles' containment, and said something Donnie couldn't make out over the laser fire and Leatherhead's roaring.

Slash carried Pete and Rockwell over to Rockwell's amplifier helmet.

Rockwell grabbed his psychic amplifier and returned it to his head before crawling out from Slash's grasp, apparently secure enough to leave the safety of Slash's protection now that he'd regained his weapon.

Rockwell approached the containment and searched the panel on the wall next to it. He smirked, tapped something into it, and the forcefield came down.

"Thanks!" Donatello said.

"Glad to provide a rescue anytime," Rockwell responded, gesturing towards the turtles' confiscated weapons.

The team rushed to claim their weapons, then joined Leatherhead in battle.

Pigeon Pete came to, and after he regained his senses, he and Slash came to fight alongside them.

They formed a circle in the middle of the room. Covering each other's sides and backs, each was able to focus on only the enemies in front of them, making for steady progress.

Donatello looked at Michelangelo and Raphael on either side of him when some time had passed and neither had made any moves to protect him. It would be the first fight in weeks everyone trusted him to take care of himself.

Donnie had thought Raph wasn't paying much mind to his brothers when they were talking in the containment, but seeing Raph keep to fighting his own Kraang, Donatello mused he had been listening all along.

Donnie had admittedly been concerned about Raphael's apparent apathy, but now reasoned Raph just didn't feel comfortable talking about all the feelsy stuff. He should have known Raph would steer away from giving input. Raphael was always one to let his actions speak for him, and as he let Donatello fight his own battle, Donnie mused it really was true that actions spoke louder than words. Raphael proved right then and there he was willing to go past empty talk, and do something about his brother's distress.

Not wanting to lose his family's newly found confidence in him, he fought harder.

With the eight of them working together, the tides began to turn. The Kraang were dropping like flies.

"Alright!" Raph said. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Fighting the Kraang in this room won't help us much with the ones who are out capturing humans right now, though," Donnie said.

Rockwell propelled a droid into the wall with a psychic burst. "How are we going to stop them? They're already out there, and there aren't enough of us to cover the entire city and look for every last bot trying to capture humans."

"I don't know," Donnie admitted. "For so long, I didn't know what they were doing. I was too caught up in what they were doing to the team. Ugh, if only there was a way to put them into the disarray they put us into!"

"That's not going to work," Raph said. "Kraang Prime controls them all with her hive mind. They'll be too organized."

Mikey swung his nunchucks at a Kraang's skull. "But Bishop said she only has the creepy hive-mind powers because she's a mutant Kraang, right?"

Donnie arched a brow. "Yeah?"

"So what if we just… un- mutated Kraang Prime?"

The turtles stopped fighting to stare, first at Mikey, then at Donnie.

No, Donnie thought. That was too simple. There had to be a reason he had dismissed the possibility before. He'd thought of an explanation of why that solution had been too simple. Why it wouldn't work.

But if that were the case, why couldn't he think of such a reason now?

Perhaps Michelangelo didn't think of solutions as detailed or complex as Donnie did, but the genius turtle reminded himself that even though Mikey's thought process was different, it may not necessarily be wrong. Simpler, yes, but maybe the solution could be simple.

"That," Donatello said, "Might work." He shook his head. "Man, I am really sorry I didn't listen to you."

Leonardo sent the final Kraangdroid to the ground with a jab of his katana. "But you don't have the retromutagen with you, do you?"

Donatello grinned and pulled the vial from his belt. "Oh, ye of little faith." He produced a dropper and several smaller vials, and divided the retromutagen between them. "I only have so much. We won't get very many shots at this." He handed one vial to each of his brothers, one to Dr. Rockwell, and kept the fifth for himself.

"Five chances isn't so bad," Leo said.

"Five if we're lucky," Donatello said. "It would be better to keep one, just in case."

"What do you mean?"

"Do I need remind you that the Shredder has mutagen, as well?"

"He's not as much of a threat as the Kraang," Rockwell argued. "Let's focus on them first, we'll worry about the retromutagen and Shredder later if need be."

"The Shredder could become an even bigger threat than the Kraang with access to that kind of power. He's already almost unbeatable by himself. He'll be impossible if he gains time-travel abilities, and if that's what he's planning, it'll be soon. The Shredder is not a patient man," Donnie said. "Not to mention retromutagen takes months to make. A man of his power could potentially capsize the entire city by the time the next batch is done."

"You're absolutely right," Leo said. "He needs to be stopped as soon as possible." He turned to leave.

"We can't leave now! The Kraang!"

Leo faced them. "You all take care of the Kraang. You'll need as many people as you can get to beat their army. I'll take the Shredder."

Raphael stormed towards him, looking ready to start a fight with him right there despite the situation. "What, are you nuts? There's no way I'm letting you fly solo to that maniac's lair! I'm going, too."

"No. You're needed to help fight the Kraang. Stay here."

Raph crossed his arms. "Make me."

Leonardo started a stare-down, but thought better of it, and addressed Donnie. "Do you have the mutagen's contaminant?"

Donatello internally scolded himself. He'd thought to bring the retromutagen, but not the chemical that had proved useful on their previous missions this month? "No. It's in my lab."

Leonardo nodded at Raph. "Let's not waste any time." He turned to Mikey and Donnie. "Good luck, guys."

Leonardo and Raphael ran the way they'd come.

"We had best be moving forward, too," Rockwell said.

Donatello took a deep breath. "Let's stop Kraang Prime. Once and for all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter on Wednesday. Have a great day, y'all!


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I have to add a disclaimer for vine references?

"We need to get to the top floor," Donatello said. "That's where Kraang Prime will be."

Dr. Rockwell readjusted his helmet. "The Kraang will surely be heavily guarding the stairs. Our best chance is the elevator."

"Great. Let's go."

The two geniuses, Michelangelo, Slash, Leatherhead, and Pete dashed down the hall.

Donatello glanced around at the remnants of what had, minutes ago, been an army of working Kraang robots. He mentally thanked Mikey and Raph for managing to make sure Slash and Leatherhead came to their side, and picked the head off one of the less mangled robots.

Rockwell pushed the up arrow on the side of the elevator, and the group had a rest to catch their breath.

The elevator dinged, its doors slid open, and laser fire burst from the inside.

Slash single-handedly dealt with the soldiers and swept them out of the elevator before walking to the back of the small compartment himself.

Leatherhead joined him, followed by Donatello and Michelangelo.

Even with only the four of them, the ninjas were squished into the corners. Elevators weren't made for oversized mutants, after all.

Pete and Rockwell maneuvered into the compartment and hovered above their heads.

Donatello used the severed Kraang head to bypass the retinal scanner, and the elevator jumped, then the floor numbers started to blink in turn.

Sixteen… seventeen… eighteen…

They had a while to go until they got to floor forty.

"We've been investigating another problem and have not been up-to-date with the Kraang. What exactly are they planning?" Dr. Rockwell asked.

"They want to mutate humans to be able to control time for them," Donnie said.

"I see. That is not good."

"You could say that again. At least we were able to stop some of the shipments of mutagen. We've set them way back, if nothing else. They won't be able to mutate the massive army of humans they were planning."

"That's a relief," Mikey said.

"Shipments," Dr. Rockwell echoed. "So that's why we spotted all those Kraang ships."

Donatello whipped around to face him, bumping into an already squished Leatherhead in the process. " _What?"_

"We've noticed increased activity in the Kraangs' scout ships. We were going to investigate as soon as we had dealt with the current problem, but came here early when you called us."

Donnie dragged a hand down the side of his face. "We didn't know about the aerial shipments. We were only tracking the ones that went out by land. We might not have stopped as much mutagen as we thought!"

Mikey's eyes grew wide "But even in the vans we didn't stop, like, a _lot_ of mutagen!"

"I know!"

"But we can stop it now," Leatherhead said.

Slash nodded. "Leatherhead's right. It doesn't matter how much mutagen they have if they never use it. We can ensure that never happens."

Thirty-three… thirty-four… thirty-five..

The lights flickered. The elevator jolted.

Donatello's eyes flicked to the weight capacity label on the wall. He didn't mean to be rude to his friends, but couldn't help wondering if they'd surpassed the limit. Thirty-five floors up was not the ideal place to be if the cable gave out.

The compartment continued creeping up the floors.

Thirty-six… thirty-seven… thirty-eight...

The elevator dropped.

Michelangelo grabbed onto his arm.

Donatello's heart flew to his throat with the jolt, and stayed there when the elevator stopped. He put a hand over his chest, and could feel his heart pounding even through his shell. He let out a humorless laugh.

The lit button indicated floor number thirty-seven, and the lights flickered out, leaving the group in a dark, unpowered elevator five hundred feet in the air.

Actually, Donatello reasoned, it was probably closer to five hundred twenty, given an average story was fourteen feet tall, and judging from the lack of a second stop, the elevator hadn't landed snugly into one of the spaces it usually opened into.

"What happened?" Michelangelo whimpered. He sounded like a frightened child.

Donatello supposed that was a mostly accurate assessment, and once again was reminded that regular fifteen-year-olds did _not_ have to put up with stopping alien invasions.

"They've cut our power," Rockwell murmured.

Something scratched the door. They heard what sounded like tapping on the other side, then the door squealed open a crack, and robot hands wedged in. The hands pushed the door further open with a horrible screech.

As soon as the opening was wide enough, the Kraang started firing at them.

Rockwell and Pete hovered to the sides of the compartment, knowing neither of them could take a hit.

Leatherhead and Slash stood tall and covered their friends. Both tried to tear the soldiers down, but aside from swatting a few hands away from the door, neither could fit an attack through the opening.

Still in the corner, Donatello used the light flooding in from the corridor to look at the elevator's metal door. The reflection in the metal told him where the Kraang were standing.

He produced one shuriken for each Kraangdroid, chose an angle to deflect each shuriken off the door's edge, and tossed them one by one, each and every shuriken reaching its intended robot.

Michelangelo grinned at him. "Nice."

Leatherhead shoved the doors open the rest of the way. "We'll have to find the stairs and fight our way up."

"We only have two more floors between here and Kraang Prime," Donatello said. "It shouldn't be that much more difficult." He ducked his head, and stepped down from the unlevel elevator, which was still hovering above its intended landing.

Dr. Rockwell hovered to his side. "Let's go."

* * *

Leonardo and Raphael were almost back to the lair. It had taken multiple traffic violations, but they'd only spent a few minutes to get there.

Leonardo glanced behind him for the umpteenth time since leaving TCRI. Every time, it was the same thing.

Raph was still brooding, arms crossed and slouching in his chair, staring at the floor.

Leo had hoped Raph would have lightened up at least a little by now, but he seemed stubbornly upset about whatever was on his mind.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fearless. In the middle of a Kraang battle and no idea how Mikey and Donnie are doing. I'm fantastic."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "This isn't like how you've been in any other battle against the Kraang. I have a feeling something else is wrong."

"Like what?"

"Like whatever you wouldn't tell us while we were all talking."

"What exactly did you want me to say?"

"What was bothering you."

Raph scoffed. "Huh. We were captured by one of our greatest enemies with no foreseeable hopes of escaping before they mutated the city again. Hmm. What could possibly be bothering me there?"

"...Fair enough. You're sure there isn't anything else?"

Raphael took a moment to respond. "Yeah."

Leo braked the Shellraiser. "We're here."

The duo ran into the lair and to Donnie's lab.

Splinter rushed out of the dojo when he sensed them approach.

Leo realized they must have freaked him out, running in the same way they might have if they were going to rush someone to the couch or lab for medical attention. "Just need to grab something," he explained before ducking inside.

Raphael switched the lab's lights on.

Donnie's desk was littered with its usual mess of gadgets and tools, vials and beakers, pipettes and microscope slides, and a whole range of papers on varying subjects and in several states of wear.

Leo pointed to a test tube amongst a set of others in a wooden holder. "This is it, right?"

"No, I think that's an experiment he used to test the Dimension X substance. It's not the right color." Raph picked up a long, skinny vial, which was laying corked among some papers. "It's this one."

"That's not the kind of vial it was in last time, it was in one of these," Leo said, pointing to the test tubes.

"It could be the same thing in a different container."

"Donnie seems like one to keep the same thing in the same container. Especially in his lab, which is full of dangerous stuff, he'd want to keep things where he could easily identify them."

Raph set the vial down. "Do you see any that are the same size and color?"

"No, but his desk is a mess! It could be hidden somewhere under all this stuff." Leo started sifting through the papers.

Raphael looked through the cabinets and drawers. "Found it!"

Leo dropped his papers. "You did?"

"Oh. No, it bubbled when we spoke. It's mixed with the Dimension X substance; probably another test."

Leonardo's shoulders slumped. He went back to searching.

Eventually, Raph took Leo's place at the desk, and Leo searched the cabinets and drawers.

After only a few minutes looking at all the diagrams and charts and numbers on the papers he sorted through- not even reading them, just seeing them- Raph's eyes grew tired. How did Donnie put up with this for hours on end?

Leo picked a vial from on top a shelf Raph hadn't searched. "This looks like it. Do you think this is it?"

Raph stared at the murky substance. "I mean… I guess?"

Leo and Raph looked at the vial, then at each other.

Raph waved a hand. "Good enough. We're wasting time. It'll do… something to the mutagen they have, and they don't have an infinite supply like the Kraang, so…"

Leonardo shrugged. "Here's hoping."

Raphael pocketed the vial. "We're wasting time. We need to go."

They dashed out the lab and into the Shellraiser.

Leonardo started the vehicle. "To Shredder's lair."

* * *

"There's more Kraang the higher we go up!" Michelangelo said, using his kasuraigama to loop around a robot's arm. He pulled the captured alien towards him, then threw it into its companions, knocking down five at once.

"Kraang Prime is just two levels up," Donatello explained, advancing another step on the stairwell. "Of course she'd use a lot of soldiers to protect herself." He stabbed a droid through the chest with his naginata.

The Mutanimals weren't doing as well against the Kraang as the turtles were. After all, the turtles had gotten an opportunity to rest while they were waiting in their containment. The Mutanimals had come straight from a long patrol, jumped right into fighting up the levels of TCRI, had gotten hurt and almost captured, freed the turtles, and were now battling to the top.

It was only every so often one of the turtles' allies faltered and let a blow slip past their guard, but even that was enough to slow them down. They were bruised and aching, and grew increasingly lethargic with every passing minute.

Still, they remained dedicated, and stuck by the turtles' sides.

"Just one more floor to fight through after this," Donnie said. "Then it will all be done."

Michelangelo knew Donatello's words were meant to be encouraging, but reminding the team that they had to battle through yet another party before facing the scariest of all Kraangkind herself proved a little disheartening.

Donatello had a good idea, though, in reassuring the party.

"We won't have to worry about these jerks for much longer," Michelangelo added. "We'll be able to go back to the lair and eat pizza and play video games and hang out, and it will all be without these guys hanging over our heads." He stopped swinging at the Kraang and held his nunchucks in his palms. "You'll be able to do all the cool scienc-y stuff you _want_ to do instead of doing the same thing for hours, and I'll be able to see Ice Cream Kitty, and-"

"Mikey, look out!"

Donatello shoved him aside, making him miss a laser beam that would have otherwise hit him right in his face, maybe in his eyes.

He'd been staring right down the barrel of a laser, and hadn't thought to notice! After all he said in the containment, all he told his brothers about them underestimating him and not listening to him- _this_ was why they did it! How were they supposed to trust him if he couldn't even focus enough to keep himself alive? What was Donnie supposed to think now that Mikey had reminded him of why he didn't deserve to be trusted, right after he'd complained about how hurtful it was the guys didn't put more faith in him? Donatello would be right to yell at him right now, and go back to the way it was.

Mikey drew his shoulders up around him. "I'm sorry," he all but whispered.

Donatello nodded. "That's alright. Just watch out for yourself, okay? I don't want you to get hurt."

"Can do."

That was that. Donnie didn't yell. He didn't even sound angry. He just went back to fighting.

For the first time in ages, Mikey found himself faced with, not an angry yell or sarcastic remark about his mistake, but a chance to prove he wouldn't do it again. A request to do better.

For the first time in ages, it felt like one of his brothers wanted him to learn. Wanted him to grow. Acknowledged he would make mistakes, and let him be imperfect.

For the first time in ages, it felt like someone was seeing him for more than just his flaws. He was more than just a mistake in their eyes.

Michelangelo stared at Donatello. Then he got back to fighting. Concentrate. He didn't want to make the same mistake again.

He laughed, a weight bundled in his chest leaving with the air he let free.

He followed his brother's instructions, and looked out for himself. After all, this would be the first time in ages someone gave him that chance.

Mikey didn't let a single blow hit him. It would be a shame if anything happened to him, after all, since he meant so much to his family.

* * *

Michelangelo and Donatello stepped up, both able to defend themselves as well as block some hits intended for their tired friends.

Soon, the Kraangs' numbers diminished.

The thirty-eighth floor landing was just within reach.

Stab, swing, punch, clobber. A rhythm that became easier with each Kraang downed. One droid less standing in their way, and they were that much closer to the next 'checkpoint'.

Leatherhead charged the last Kraang on the final step before the landing, and ripped the robot apart like a paper towel. The Kraang inside jumped onto the stairs and went scurrying down, screeching.

Donatello poked his head around the landing to the next flight of stairs, then glanced at his exhausted, worn allies. "We can afford to rest here a minute or two," he whispered. "It'll be one more flight, then we'll face Kraang Prime."

The team tried to quiet their heavy breathing, lest the next flight's worth of Kraang heard them.

Donatello supposed they had been loud enough battling their way up, and mused the Kraang were already well aware of their presence, but still. The absence of noise might encourage them to stay there until the team was ready to move on.

He was forced to consider a different reason for their passiveness, however, when Kraang Prime's image projected on the stairwell wall.

"Kraang should have disposed of you while you were at Kraang's mercy."

Michelangelo sneered at her and adopted a strange, taunting tone. "But 'cha didn't."

"You have caused issues in Kraang's plan. But Kraang would not have survived this far if Kraang was not an adaptive species. Kraang, begin the mutation of the humans!"

Kraang Prime lingered to catch their horrified expressions, then the projection flickered out.

"We have to go back," Donnie said.

Slash let his head fall. "But we're so close! And we saw the humans' containment area when we came up; it's on the low floors. We'd have to backtrack all that way."

"We only have three doses of retromutagen, five if Leo and Raph both return with theirs. Even if we stop Kraang Prime, there's no telling what the humans will do with the mutagenic powers, or what the mutagenic powers will do to them. Brewing a new batch would take too long, and even then, we'd have no way to track the mutated humans."

Slash looked at Donatello, then at the next flight of stairs, and back at Donnie. "You save the humans. I'm moving forward."

"Our best chance is to split up," Dr. Rockwell agreed. "I'll go with you, Donatello. The rest of you should make sure we keep moving towards Prime."

Michelangelo put a hand on Donnie's shoulder. "I'm coming, too."

"Then let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter on Sunday. Have a great day, y'all!


	26. Chapter 26

The Foot weren't as careful about guarding their domain as the Kraang were. It made sense, considering they were protecting elite ninjas. The bots' purpose probably wasn't to take out whoever might stand against them, but more so to alert the better fighters of the coming danger; to stall in the few seconds they could while the Shredder's goons- or the Shredder himself- prepared.

Nonetheless, the relaxed guard stationed there made it easier for Leonardo and Raphael to slip by.

They snuck down the corridors, footsteps quiet enough to be drowned out by the wind of the storm approaching outside.

The duo ducked behind a pillar as a footbot drew near them on its patrol.

A pair of arms appeared from the shadows, and before the robot calculated a change, it had already been plucked out of sight and sliced in two.

Leonardo positioned the bot behind the pillar where it wouldn't be spotted, and carried on.

They were almost to the end of the hall now.

A second footbot emerged from an adjacent corridor and drew its sword upon spotting them. It beeped, alerting two more on either side of the doorway Leonardo and Raphael headed towards.

The betraying footbot fell to the ground before it was able to fight, head speared by a flying sai.

The door's guards joined it on the floor a second later, cut identically across the torso.

Leo sheathed his katanas and glanced back at Raph, who stepped on the impaled footbot's head and pulled his thrown sai from it.

Leonardo motioned for the vial, and Raphael tossed it to him. They continued to the next room.

Stockman's lab was brighter than usual, bathed in a green glow which emanated from the giant vat of mutagen that sat in the center. Leo made a mental note to be careful; the lighting could give them away if they weren't cautious.

Raphael leapt onto the wall, pushed off, and jumped for the mutagen container. He zig-zagged through the air between the two surfaces until he was high enough to make it to the makeshift ledge that ran the rim of the vat.

Leonardo followed and landed beside his brother. He wondered why Stockman had this ledge despite being able to fly, and found himself thankful that he did, whatever the reason. Not that he couldn't have successfully landed on a slim edge, but ninja or not, the risk of falling into the tub of mutagen was not one he wanted to take.

Leo uncorked the vial and took a step closer to the mutagen. He looked at the substance in the vial, exchanged uneasy gazes with Raphael, and slowly tipped the glass container.

Just as the first drop was about to fall, someone pushed him down.

Leo reached for his swords.

Raphael lay chest-down on the ledge beside him, holding a finger to his mouth. He pointed to the lab's floor.

Stockman followed the Shredder and Tiger Claw, all three of them seemingly unaware of their presence, thanks to Raph's quick thinking. They would have otherwise been spotted right away, if any of their enemies looked up.

"I am still not sure about this, Master," Tiger Claw growled. "Mutagen is notoriously an unpredictable substance, even if this new version is supposedly more controlled."

"Enough," Shredder said. "With the help of these new abilities, I will be able to stop Splinter from ever killing my beloved Tang Shen."

Leo and Raph exchanged horrified glances.

If the Shredder managed to go back and stop Splinter all those years ago, then what would happen to them? If the times changed, would the turtles stay on the timeline they were currently on? Would they cease to exist? Then who would have been in New York to stop the Kraang from invading? Who would be there to rescue April before they perfected their plot?

"Yezz, Mazzzzter," Stockman said. "But after your mutation, it will take a long time for your powerzzz to become that zzzztrong. Ezzzzzzpecially if it provezzz a lengthy procedure to invent an amplifying agent to zzzpeed up the procezzz."

Shredder faced the fly mutant. "Then you had better hope your amplifying agent takes shorter than expected." He curled his fist, and blades slid from the gauntlets on his wrists. "Otherwise, I will peel your wings from your body and drop you in the vat myself."

Stockman's giant fly head twitched. "Yezz, Mazzzter."

"Hurry with your preparations. Do not keep me waiting."

Stockman flew to his desk, where he had a beaker of mutagen already sitting. He brought it to the Shredder. "I have a chair prepared for the mutation over there."

Leo and Raph followed his fly claw to the corner of his lab.

The chair indicated sat atop a grate and surrounded by all sorts of monitors.

The Shredder sat, and allowed Stockman to hook him up to the monitors.

Stockman then hovered above the Shredder's head, mutagen beaker between his hands. He started to tip the beaker, then hesitated, and looked at Tiger Claw.

Tiger Claw seemed as reluctant as he.

"I do not have all day," Shredder spat.

Stockman pulled his gaze away from Tiger Claw, and poured the mutagen.

The Shredder remained entirely still, unreadable, as the ominously glistening liquid oozed down his helmet.

It spread slowly, like paint pouring over his armor. The helmet's maedate prevented mutagen from dripping into his face, and the liquid slid down the steep sides. Drops hit his chestplate and pauldrons first. Some slid down the back of the chair and fell, draining in the grate below.

Even when mutagen gathered enough at the brow of the helmet and a drop spilled over the maedate and ran to the tip of the trident-like emblem, the Shredder remained emotionless.

Stockman set the emptied beaker aside and hovered behind Tiger Claw.

The drop in the middle of the maedate swelled into a spherical bead, and fell behind the helmet's mouth plate.

Everyone held their breath.

The Shredder remained statue still. Then he winced and doubled over in the chair with a groan, hands clenching the armrests.

Tiger Claw stepped forward. Stockman backed up.

Shredder let out a roar and snapped back, almost tipping the chair over. His body convulsed.

Leonardo's lip curled. He kept a hand on his katana's hilt.

Shredder tried to stand up, fell into the chair, and jerked side to side as if being hit. He spasmed like he'd been electrocuted, then slumped over, motionless.

Tiger Claw shoved Stockman towards the monitors. The fly mutant shook his head.

Leo found some respect for Tiger Claw when the cat mutant accompanied Baxter to the monitors, keeping a wary eye on his employer as the genius reluctantly got to work. At least he had some sense.

The Shredder stirred. He pushed the arms of the chair and stood, paying no mind to the monitors' cables which came loose when he did so.

Behind the desk which blocked his hands from view, Tiger Claw readied his paw on his ice gun.

Shredder glared at his wary servants. "Did it work?"

"The only way to be zzzure would be to tezzt it out, zzzzir."

Shredder closed his eyes. Heavy silence filled the air.

Everyone stared at the armor-clad ninja, unblinking.

Then he was gone.

Tiger Claw and Stockman looked around the room.

Leo tried to keep his movements slow as he did the same, not wanting to attract any attention.

"Well?" Shredder's voice boomed from the opposite side of the room from where he had just been.

"We did not zzzee you at all, Mazzter. It izzzz like you teleported."

"Then it seems this experiment was a success."

Leonardo and Raphael couldn't hide their horror from each other when they looked to one another for reassurance.

Leo pulled his vial of retromutagen from his belt. He tilted his head to indicate the new mutant.

Raph nodded, then indicated the vat of mutagen, and made a tipping motion with his hand. _We need to contaminate this first, otherwise they'll be able to mutate him all over again._

Leo crawled to the edge of the vat and readied the contaminant.

Raph crawled to his side, and exchanged yet another uneasy glance.

Leonardo took a deep breath, and poured the contaminant.

The mutagen didn't turn color.

Leo almost jumped. He looked around Stockman's lab for something that might be able to help them.

Raph grabbed his arm, his gaze still on the mutagen.

Leo looked. It was bubbling.

The bubbles sped up, the liquid boiling until it was almost to the brim.

Raphael and Leonardo stood and backed away.

The bubbles burst upon coming to the surface of the vat, spraying droplets on the ledge and into the air.

Raphael pulled him aside, and Leo realized he'd rescued him from a tiny drop he hadn't seen flying towards him.

They backed further to the edge of the ledge. If anyone looked up, they'd see them. Thankfully, the mutagen's boiling was near silent, and no one had noticed it yet.

The question now was how they were going to get a safe distance from it while not being spotted. If only there were a system of pipes or some ceiling lights to grab onto, or-

BANG.

The mutagen erupted in a flash of flames and dark, billowing smoke. Specks of ooze showered everywhere.

Raph tackled Leo, saving him from the ooze, but consequently sending both of them falling to the lab floor.

Raphael, prepared for the motion, landed on his feet, but Leo crashed onto his shell.

Leo pushed himself into a fighting stance as fast as his aching back would let him.

"My mutagen!" Stockman cried. "You turtlezz are going to pay for that!"

"Indeed," Shredder agreed, stepping towards the duo. "How nice of you to volunteer to become my practice run. You should be proud to be the first I get to test my new powers on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter on Wednesday. Have a great day, y'all!


	27. Chapter 27

Fighting their way down the stairs proved a lot easier than fighting up. The Mutanimals had taken care of most of the Kraang already, and those that remained had probably been called to Prime's defense, or to guard the humans. There were only a few here and there running up the stairs, who between Rockwell, Donatello, and Michelangelo, were no challenge to defeat.

As Donatello suspected, they only came across a substantial amount of Kraang upon reaching the level of the humans' containment.

There were the usual two on either side of the hall door, which they removed without any issue, then Donnie peeked through the window into the expansive room.

The number of soldiers inside was impressive, but it wasn't anything they hadn't dealt with recently, and Donnie's first idea was to charge in and battle the small army. Then he remembered Leo and Raph weren't with them. The group he was with was also worse for wear, himself included. No, direct fighting would not do.

"We'll need to go stealth on this one," he whispered. "It's dark in there. I can't see much, but there's too many Kraang for the three of us. I need to get a closer look to figure out what to do."

Mikey and Rockwell nodded.

Donnie peered through the window a while longer. Every few seconds, a pair of Kraang would pass the door.

He calculated their pattern, then waited, and at what he deemed the opportune moment for slipping in unnoticed, he opened the door and let the three of them in.

Donatello estimated the next Kraang patrol would be in position to see them in two seconds if they didn't get out of the way.

A vat of mutagen sat in the center of the room, lined with a belt of control panels at desk level.

"Come on," Donnie hissed, rushing towards the vat. He dove and rolled under the panels.

Michelangelo soon ducked under the table-like ring and crouched beside him.

Rockwell was not as fast.

Donnie glanced between his ally and the Kraang that would spot him if they caught any glimpse of his movement.

He wanted to yell, "Come on, hurry up, they'll see you!". His heart pounded against his ribs.

Rockwell slid under the panels just as the patrol caught sight of him out of the corner of its eye.

One of the Kraang soldier's heads whipped towards them.

Donnie became painfully aware that the panels, while they provided some cover, were no hiding spot to withstand closer examination. He found himself wishing that the Kraang's giant, pink robotic lenses of eyes had been built with some form of pupils. The robot might not have spotted them at all, or it could be sizing them up before it chose to move. It was impossible to tell.

The Kraang soldier's companion, now a few paces ahead, noticed its partner was missing. The second robot beeped at the first.

The first continued to stare.

It beeped in response, looked straight ahead, and resumed its patrol.

The trio let out a collective sigh of relief.

Donatello took some measured breaths, then took the opportunity to properly examine the room from the safety of his hiding place.

The room was lit partially by the pink veins of energy that stretched the walls, and by the green glow of the mutagen in the center.

Donnie timed the Kraangs' movements, and at a safe interval, poked his head out from under the panels to gaze up at the giant vat.

A pipe system ran in all directions from the top of the vat. The pipes fed into numerous small, transparent hoselike tubes, all twisting together in a tangled, yet patterned, mess before feeding to their respective places on the wall. Each tube remained identical distance from the next, like a twisted factory line. Every one stopped just above the head of a human.

Donnie hadn't noticed the humans before, and was glad he hadn't.

Every human stood still as a statue, perfect posture, unblinking, emotionless. Their eyes stared ahead, directly into those of the person on the opposite wall, too blank for them to possibly be comprehending. No one could stare into the abyss of these people's expressions and not show any emotion.

Unease, pity, helplessness, fear. All these things bubbled in Donatello's gut as he looked at the Kraangs' victims.

No, he corrected himself. All of Kraang's victims.

The humans showed none of these emotions. The empty expressions they exchanged betrayed they'd already been stripped of their individualities.

There was no need to look for the mind control devices; the trio already knew they were there, tucked out of sight under scarves and collars and hair.

Donatello mused, had he walked into this room not knowing, he would have assumed these were all new designs of Kraang disguises.

He dismissed the feelings which twisted his gut. No use in worrying over the humans when he could save them.

Donnie looked at Mikey and Rockwell, beginning to formulate a plan. His thoughts scattered with one look at Michelangelo's face.

"These humans," he whispered, voice on the verge of breaking, "They all have their own lives, as complex as yours and mine."

Donatello thought he saw tears beginning to form in the corners of his baby brother's eyes.

"They all have ups and downs and people they love, things they love to do. Favorite things to eat, favorite stories, fondest memories. They all have people they grew to know over years, and times they didn't understand each other." He looked at Donnie. "And moments when they finally understood. They have people waiting for them. People who care for them. Even if they don't think so." He hugged his knees to his chest. "How can Kraang do that? Just- just wipe that all away, what? Just because she can? Does she even know-" He put a hand to his eyes.

Donnie sighed. "I know. We're going to free them. They won't have to worry about the Kraang much longer."

"The Kraang are just like them."

Donatello started. "What?"

Michelangelo gestured to the soldiers around the room. "She controls them. We wouldn't call the humans Kraang now that she controls them; they're still humans. And these guys? They're Utrom. They had lives like the humans. Lives like us!"

Mikey looked at Donnie with a newfound defiance shining in his eye. "We have to save them. _All of them."_

Donatello nodded. "We will."

They fell silent as mechanical whirring approached. Three Kraangdroids walked around the vat, and stopped right where they were hiding.

Donnie grabbed his bo and prepared to leap out, but stopped when he heard beeps on the panel above.

They were so close. He could reach out and touch the robot if he tried, and yet the Kraang remained oblivious.

"Kraang. What is the status on the capturing of the humans for mutation?"

"Kraang was unable to capture the intended number of the humans in the time which was granted to Kraang. Kraang believes this may be because one of the humans known to humans as 'teenagers' did that which is known as 'break in' to the news station called Channel 6 news and broadcasted a message to warn other humans about the plan Kraang is planning."

Donatello suppressed a laugh. He made a mental note to congratulate April later.

"Kraang has received orders from Kraang to start the next phase of the plan that is known as the plan to mutate the humans." The alien raised its voice. "Other Kraang are to report to Kraang Prime- the Kraang known as: Kraang, Kraang, Kraang, Kraang, Kraang..."

The list continued, and the selected Kraang headed out the door. How they knew who was who, Donnie was curious, but would never find out.

"Kraang shall start the phase of the plan that is the plan that Kraang requested Kraang to start."

More beeping on the panel, then the vat lurched, and something inside it hummed.

Mutagen oozed through the pipes, heading towards the humans.

"There's no time," Mikey said. He drew his nunchucks, extended the blade, and swiped at the robots' legs.

The Kraang tumbled unceremoniously to the ground and ran from their vessels, screeching.

Soldiers gathered around the fallen robots, communicating in electronic bleeps and tones.

A burst of rings from Rockwell's helmet disrupted the air and sent the congregating Kraang flying back.

Donnie and Mikey emerged from hiding and disabled the robots with a quick few stabs and swipes.

"Focus on the mutagen," Rockwell said. "Michelangelo and I will hold them off."

Donatello traced the mutagen on its course through the pipes. The pipes at the very centers of the walls moved faster than the others, probably because of their positioning. At the current rate, they had fifteen seconds until the humans were mutated.

Ten, he corrected himself, remembering the mutagen would freefall once it hit the sharp decline just above the heads of its unknowing victims.

His eyes flew over the panel in a frenzy, barely picking up any information before moving along. There must be a code to close the tubes, or something. The Kraang were intelligent, they would know to have an emergency stop.

Even after decoding so many Kraang symbols, there were still a lot he didn't know, and processing the ones he did recognize took precious seconds.

Eight seconds left.

Did that symbol mean true? Or did it mean false? Oh, he always got those two confused! Why did that one have to be there, it changed the entire meaning of the line of code! Did Kraang code even work like the code on Earth?

Six seconds.

He abandoned the panels and looked at the top of the vat. The mutagen steadily drained.

Wait, the top? Didn't it make more sense to drain from the bottom, and have gravity pull the liquid?

Five seconds.

If it wasn't draining by gravity, then it must be some kind of suction. If he could just reverse the suction, then all the mutagen would drain back into the vat.

Four seconds.

He hurriedly navigated the panel. Where was it? Where was it?

Three seconds.

Donnie found the controls for the vacuum, which he assumed was what controlled the pipes.

Two seconds.

He typed in the code he remembered for reversal, which he'd run across several times in his studies, and typed a wrong character.

One second.

He hurriedly typed the code again.

The screen turned green, and more code began filling the panel.

Something clicked inside the vat, and the humming grew louder. The mutagen began to retrace its course.

"Yes!" He yelled.

"No!" Michelangelo cried.

He followed his brother's gaze to the centermost person.

Mutagen had already fallen onto his head.

He looked on the other side. It was the same for the girl standing there.

Michelangelo rushed to the first person's side, uncorked the retromutagen, and poured it over him. "What about the other one?"

"I've got it," Rockwell said, levitating his own vial of retromutagen over the girl's head and doing the same.

"Okay, we've un-mutated them," Donnie said, deflecting a laser with a twirl of his bo. "But they're still mind-controlled, and even if we take the mind-control devices, we're mutants. They won't listen to us. We won't be able to guide them out."

"I'll communicate with them psychically once their devices are removed," Rockwell said, levitating away from a laser aimed at him. "I'll be able to stay out of sight, and instruct them from a hiding place."

"And you really think they'd comply with a disembodied voice over a mutant?"

"These people have just been abducted by aliens," Rockwell said. "I don't think they're going to mind much, as long as I can prove I'm on their side. Besides, I only need one person to trust me, and then I can have them guide everyone else."

"Alright, but we need to get back to Kraang Prime quick. Who knows what she's doing to stop the rest of the Mutanimals." Donnie groaned. "We only have one dose of retromutagen left!"

Rockwell blasted another Kraang with his helmet. "You go. There are few enough Kraang for me to handle now, then I'll free the humans. Stop Prime!"

Donnie sheathed his bo, and gestured to Michelangelo. "Let's go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna have to skip Sunday's update for the sake of time, so next will probably be Wednesday. Have a great day, y'all!


	28. Chapter 28

Beaten, bruised, and both mentally and physically exhausted was not the state Donatello wanted to be in to face Kraang Prime. Yet, after already fighting for what seemed like an eternity, he and Michelangelo rushed up the stairs to the fortieth level, bringing their total up to about sixty flights they'd travelled in the past quarter hour.

The duo crested the final flight, panting and a little dizzy, relieved to see that Slash, Leatherhead, and Pete had already taken out all of the soldiers in the staircase. Now all that remained was whoever was between them and Prime, and of course, Prime herself.

Slash looked behind the turtles. "Where's Rockwell?"

"He stayed behind to lead the humans out," Donnie replied.

Michelangelo leaned against Leatherhead's arm.

The mutant alligator rested his free hand on the youngest turtle's shoulder. "How are you feeling, my friend?"

"Uuuuuuggggh."

Slash hummed. "This… admittedly isn't the best condition for us to be facing Kraang Prime in," he admitted, "But we can do it. This could be the end of our troubles with all of the Kraang for good. Just… let that help you power through it." He looked at each of them individually, then readied his mace like a barrier in front of him. "Are we ready to end this?"

Donatello drew his bo, Michelangelo, his nunchucks. Leatherhead pulled himself up to his full height. Pigeon Pete cawed and assumed a fighting stance.

Slash grabbed the door and counted down on his fingers.

Three… two… one.

He ripped the door off its hinges and used it like a giant frisbee as the five burst into the room, disorganising the army that waited within.

Upon spotting Kraang hovering in the air in their flyers, firing at them from above, Pigeon Pete took to the air and did what he could to prevent them from shooting at his allies on the ground.

Leatherhead barrel-rolled another group, squashing them to the wall and crushing their robots with a few more rolls before moving on.

Donatello and Michelangelo helped both in the air and on ground, using shurikens and kusarigama respectively to be able to reach their foes no matter their domain.

Each movement strained Donatello's tired muscles and mind. Each second, he grew more aware of how much he wanted to lie down and rest. The pull of gravity seemed to increase on him the more he fought. His movements slowed. He had to keep himself mentally aware of his speed, which took precious power from his already fried brain, and caused him to slip up and almost get hit.

Keep going. Keep fighting. He was almost there. Then no more fighting the Kraang. He wouldn't have to worry about them anymore. He could live without the threat of their domination constantly hanging over his head, if he could just put a little more into going right now. All they had to do was un-mutate Prime.

Donatello searched the room for the giant Kraang. It hit him that the enormous, pink alien should have stood out the moment they entered the room, but he hadn't noticed her. He glanced at one corner, then another, glimpsed behind his fighting friends, even looked at the ceiling. "She's not here!"

Slash barred the biotroid he had been battling with the handle of his mace to stall it for enough time to check the room himself.

Donatello noted the increasingly lethargic movements of his allies. "We have to go. We're wasting our time here!"

Slash pointed past Donnie to the staircase from where they had come. "There's another level!"

Donatello followed his gesture. Past the gaping doorway that minutes ago had a door, he could see the stairs wind around for yet another flight, the top of which was packed with guards, all of whom stood still despite their need in the battle. "It must be to the roof. How did you miss that? You were standing just below the landing for how long before we arrived?"

"The Kraang on the other levels came down to meet us," Slash explained, crushing the biotroid's side with a hard swing of his mace. "I guess I assumed there wasn't another staircase. They didn't attack us, and this was supposed to be the top level."

"We're winning here," Pigeon Pete said. "Why aren't they coming to fight us?"

Donnie dropped a Kraang flyer that was sneaking up behind Pete with a toss of a shuriken. "Because they have a more important mission than stopping us," Donnie thought out loud. "They're protecting Prime. She's on the roof!"

"Let's go!"

Leonardo let out his most intimidating battle cry as he charged for the Shredder, gripping his katana ahead of his chest.

The Shredder sidestepped the attack with ease, and before Leo had time to react, he struck the turtle with an elbow to his neck.

Leo stumbled and almost fell onto his own weapon, but managed to push himself away from the ground and regain his balance.

While Shredder was focused on Leo, Raphael leapt behind him, sais ready to plunge through his armor once he'd come close enough. He swung his sai as the Shredder turned and glared at him, then all at once, the Shredder was gone.

It wasn't a Shredder-is-a-really-good-ninja-and-can-dodge-anything sort of gone; the man had completely disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Raphael growled when his sais made contact with the ground.

An arm struck him, making him topple onto his side.

Raph pulled the momentum into rolling back onto his feet.

The Shredder laughed from the place where he had reappeared a good distance away, a cold, dark laugh that sent chills down Leo's spine.

"Fools! You were no match for me before! How do you intend to stop me now?" His uninjured eye narrowed from the bottom in what Leonardo assumed was a hidden smirk. "Amuse me."

Raph seethed, and charged the armored man. One second, the Shredder stood only yards away in his path, and the next, he was right behind Raphael.

"Raph!" Leo cried.

The Shredder stomped on Raphael's back, sending the red-clad turtle to the ground. He raised his fist.

Raphael grabbed his ankles and pulled them in an attempt to off-balance the enemy.

The Shredder was within his grasp, then he was gone.

"Why hasn't he used his blades yet?" Raph yelled.

"He's toying with us," Leonardo answered. "He isn't trying to kill us because he doesn't think we pose a threat to him anymore."

"Leo, look out!"

The next thing he knew, Leo tasted the earthy concrete mingled with a metallic taste. His front teeth ached, and he could feel the grime of the dust that had been on the floor now coating his mouth. He coughed and pushed himself off the ground, stepped into a fighting stance, and found there was no one there.

"I would ask you to bring your pathetic Sensei, but soon, that will not matter anymore." The Shredder stood upon the vat's ledge, engulfed in the smoke of the contaminated mutagen.

Leo glanced at Raph to search him for injuries.

Raphael had a few cuts and bruises, but what grabbed his attention was what he was doing behind his back, out of Shredder's sight.

Raph dipped the blades of his shurikens into his vial of retromutagen. Each blade took up a considerable amount, and when he was done, he had only been able to put a thin coat onto five stars.

"Soon," Shredder's voice boomed, "I will not have to deal with you disgusting turtles any longer. Once my powers reach their full potential, I will go back and make sure you were never created."

Raphael gripped the stars by their dry centers and threw them.

The five soared through the air, blades glistening with a thin orange sheen. All five were on course to reach their contact. Shredder hadn't moved an inch.

And then he was gone.

The stars embedded themselves in the far upper wall, out of reach.

Raph cursed.

"I tire of these games," Shredder growled from behind them, startling them both. He drew his blades. "I will enjoy killing you twice."

Leonardo reached for his vial of retromutagen. He had just managed to grab it when Shredder knocked him down.

The retromutagen went tumbling out of his hand and clinked on the ground before rolling away.

The Shredder paused, blade raised high above his head, eyeing the retromutagen with what might have been curiosity.

"Nooo!" Leo cried, a little exaggerated. He mentally told himself to bring the acting down a notch. "Raph, Donnie's mutagenic amplifying agent! You can't let him get it! He'll take over the world!"

Both Raph and the Shredder looked at the retromutagen, then at Leo.

Raphael's eyes widened in realization, and he dove for the vial.

The Shredder pounced at the same time.

They collided and rolled, both clutching the tiny vial with a death grip.

Raph wrestled the Shredder over the retromutagen.

Shredder struck him right in the center of his chest, making him lose his grip on the vial and fall onto his back.

Shredder laughed. "Thank you, turtles, for this thoughtful gift. Perhaps your scientist is more competent than mine." He removed his mouthplate, uncorked the retromutagen, drained the vial, and cast the glass aside. "Now, witness my true power!" He curled his fists with an unhidden manic grin.

His grin slipped. He looked at his hands. "What is this?" He glared at the turtles.

Leo tried his best to hold back a triumphant laugh.

Shredder's eyes grew wide. "No!" He turned to the fly mutant. "Stockman, I need more mutagen, now!"

"Zzzzir, the turtlezzzz dezzztroyed all I had left!"

Shredder roared. "I will skin you after I'm done with them!"

Leonardo grabbed Raphael's shoulder. "We're done. Let's get out of here!"

The duo dashed for the exit.

A dark figure emerged from the shadows that clouded the doorway. "Not so fast." Rahzar towered over them as footbots flooded into the room. Tons and tons of footbots.

Rocksteady followed, clutching his hammer, Bebop by his side.

Tiger Claw and Stockman walked to either side of Rahzar.

Rahzar flexed his claws. "What's the rush? We're just getting started."

Thirty Kraangdroids and a little more exhaustion later, the group made it to the roof.

Upon seeing Kraang Prime, all alone with not even her giant robot body, at first, Donatello was relieved. She was actually here. Then panic began to set in. They only had one shot.

"What?" Kraang cried. "How did you fight through all Kraang's soldiers?" She shook her enormous head. "It does not matter. You have to answer to Kraang now!"

She sent a powerful psychic blast towards them with rings the diameter of buses.

The shock jolted every muscle in Donatello's body. He wanted to lie down. He was so tired. How much longer?

Caught on the outside of the blast, Donnie was able to maintain his footing by plunging his naginata blade into the roof and holding onto the opposite end of the bo.

Leatherhead and Slash stood their ground, too heavy to be moved by it.

The blast caught Pigeon Pete and carried him off the roof. He flapped back on once it had passed him.

Caught right in the center with no flight or grip was Michelangelo. The burst carried him back, and he scrambled to keep his traction on the roof, but the blast was too powerful. It swept him to the edge of the roof.

"Mikey!" Donnie cried. The attack now past him, he pulled his bo's blade from its groove and rushed towards his baby brother.

Michelangelo screamed as he left the roof completely.

Donnie dived right to the edge and held his staff out.

Mikey snatched the weapon and held onto it for dear life.

Leaning so far over the edge, Donnie's logical mind screamed at him to go back. He was going to fall. He could already feel the pull of gravity threatening to send them both plummeting.

In that moment, that part of his mind was irrelevant. Brothers first. No matter what.

"I gotcha!" Donnie said. "Hold on!"

Mikey adjusted his grip, consequently triggering the bo's blade. He gasped and flinched back, and for a split second that made Donatello's heart miss a beat, his hands slipped.

"That's alright, that's alright. I'm gonna get you up here on the count of three, so hold on tight. Ready? One, two…"

Donnie pulled his brother to safety. Well, relative safety.

The moment they were on the roof again, Prime sent another blast their way.

Donatello shoved Michelangelo out of range and steadied himself with his bo.

"The retromutagen!" Mikey reminded him. "That's all we have to do!"

Donatello pulled the vial from his belt.

Once the blast had ended, he charged Kraang, retromutagen above his head, ready to throw.

Almost there. He only had to close in on her a few more feet to ensure his target met.

Kraang eyed him as if he were an ant. Oh, how quickly things would change, he thought.

Donatello leapt into the air. "Booyakasha!" He chucked the vial.

Kraang sent a third blast, changing its course in midair.

In the middle of the roof, the glass smashed.

"No!"

The first few Footbots, Leo could handle. Then they jumped on him in swarms.

Despite the similarities in technology, fighting Foot and Kraang was a lot different. Kraang were programmed with many purposes, and only had a few fighting patterns to use. Footbots had only one purpose. Fight. They knew how, too.

A kick landed on his side. A punch on his back. An elbow to his shell. He couldn't block them. They were so fast.

Somewhere behind him, swallowed in the sea of enemies, he could hear Raph fighting. Judging from the sound of it he was losing.

Leo didn't hear Raph chuckle to himself once, or use any snarky taunts towards their opponents, but the telltale 'hup' martial artists were trained to use to prepare themselves for impact rang out too many times.

Leonardo willed himself to continue. One footbot sliced here, another there. Progress.

Then Tiger Claw pushed his way through the crowd to fight. Leonardo blocked Tiger Claw's sword with his own.

Footbots hit him from every side. He had to keep his attention on Tiger Claw. Suddenly he wasn't progressing anymore.

He blocked a second strike from Tiger claw. Numerous more landed from the footbots.

He blocked a third strike. A footbot kicked the back of his knee, causing him to fall forward. His katana clattered on the ground. A bot kicked it away.

Footbots surrounded him, hands on his shoulders preventing him from getting up, others shoving his own hands behind his back.

Tiger Claw held his sword to Leonardo's face.

"Ack!"

Raphael fell on the ground beside him. Rocksteady held him still while footbots peeled his sais out of his hands.

"Enough, turtles," Shredder growled. "Now tell me where your Sensei is."

Leo stared him in the eye. Fine. Kill him. Slit his throat. He would not betray Splinter. "Never."

Shredder narrowed his eyes. "Really?"

"I'd die before I let you kill Sensei," Leo spat.

Shredder stared him down. Leonardo stared back.

"So be it," Shredder said. "Kill the red one."

Leonardo gasped.

Footbots grabbed Raph's arms and pulled him into a kneeling position. Tiger Claw left Leo and put his blade over Raphael's throat instead.

Tiger Claw's hand tightened around the sword, and he moved it to one side, preparing for the quick slice back.

"No! Wait!"

Tiger Claw looked at Shredder, who nodded, and turned his attention to Leo.

"Where is Splinter?"

"I won't tell you."

Shredder raised a hand to Tiger Claw, preparing to give the order.

"But," Leo hurriedly continued, "There is information I can give you that will be of use to you."

"Explain."

"You want the altered mutagen? I know where some is being kept. Tons, in fact!"

Raphael glared at him. "Leo, what are you doing?"

"The mutagen is not what I demanded. I demanded your Sensei."

"If you have the mutagen, why do you need that information? You can go back and change all that. You can build the future you wanted to come to pass."

"Then where is it?" Shredder growled. He walked to Leo and positioned his gauntlet's blades on either side of his neck.

"I'll tell you," Leo said, "If you let Raph go."

"Leo, no!"

Leonardo ignored him.

Shredder clenched his teeth. "You are in no position to be making demands, turtle."

"Oh, really? There's not much of that kind of mutagen left, and no more will be produced after my brothers stop Kraang Prime. They're over where the mutagen is right now, and if you don't hurry, they'll destroy it before you get any."

"I do not take orders from lowly mutants!"

"Fine. Don't. Stay here in this timeline for the rest of your sad, lonely life when you could have had Tang Shen back if you'd only made an exception this once and listened to me."

Shredder growled and retracted the gauntlet's blades. "Just this once. I will release your brother."

"Don't just release him," Leo said. "I want him out of here without another scratch, and I want proof that he's walked outside of Foot Clan territory without being followed."

"And you as well, I assume?"

"I guess I can't ensure you won't go back on your word unless I stay behind to wait until he's safe to give you the information."

"Leo, if you don't stop this nonsense right now-"

A footbot shoved its hand over Raphael's mouth. Without nerves, it did not flinch or let go when Raph bit down on the hand.

Shredder paused for a long while. "Very well. Take him away."

The bots released Raph, then contained him again a second later when he tried to rush for Leo.

Raph cursed and kicked and squirmed as they dragged him towards the door. "Leonardo, I swear if you don't put an end to this right now- what is your plan? This is nuts! Are you out of your mind?"

Leonardo watched helplessly as the footbots pulled him further away.

Realization sank into Raph's features. He stopped struggling. His eyes grew wide, his mouth slack. Once he had dropped his warrior's demeanor, his expression echoed not the grown-up soldier's poise he always fought so hard to maintain, but that of a terrified fifteen-year-old. A scared boy. "Brother?"

The door slammed shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter Sunday. Have a great day, y'all!


	29. Chapter 29

The door flung open again and more Kraang soldiers poured onto the roof.

Donatello could barely stop himself from throwing his bo on the ground in frustration. "Ugh, I'm so sick of these guys! Do they ever stop? How many are there?"

"By now, they've probably called reinforcements from Dimension X," Leatherhead replied.

"Oh yeah," Donnie muttered under his breath. "That's just what we need right now." He saw Prime powering another blast up at Michelangelo and pushed him behind a roof vent.

Donnie realized Prime must have seen Mikey was the only one she could move with her powers and started to target him.

Actually, Donatello was only safe because he could use his bo for balance. If he tried to use it to fight, he supposed she could knock him off the roof, too.

Slash slumped a little when he saw the robots. "We can't take these guys for much longer."

"What do we do?" Mikey asked, pleading Donnie with big, tearful eyes.

"I don't know," he said. "I wasn't expecting to have to deal with any more Kraang. We thought we'd have freed them from her control by now, but-" His gaze drifted to the shattered vial on the ground, the spilled retromutagen that was their last hope sinking between the tiny textured ridges of the concrete. He furrowed his brow. "We'd only have to get her to touch the retromutagen for it to work. I'd mop it up with a cloth and throw it, but then maybe not enough would hit her to completely undo the mutation. What's on the ground is the entire dose."

He tapped his chin, then raised his voice to address Slash and Leatherhead. "Do you think we could all push her to the puddle?"

Slash looked up from where he and Leatherhead were trying to force the staircase door shut before more droids escaped onto the roof, then glanced at Prime. "Even at our full strength, it'd be a stretch." He used the butt of his handle to swat a robotic arm out from the door's opening, slammed it, and barred his mace across the handle.

Metal-against-metal pounding clanged through the air as the trapped soldiers attempted to get through, but the door held.

Donnie drummed his fingertips together, then clutched his bo at the ready as droids approached the vent behind which he and Mikey were hiding. "Um… she doesn't lift herself off the ground when she walks, just kind of… skitters. If we could get her to walk into the retromutagen herself? I don't know how we'd get her to move, but she didn't seem to notice the retromutagen much; I think she thought it was just a projectile, like a shuriken or something. I don't think she'd put much effort into avoiding it, if only we could-"

"I'm on it!" Mikey said. He jumped into the open, out of the safety of the vent. "Hey, Kraang!"

Prime scowled down at him like an insect inconveniencing her. "Destroy him!"

The few soldiers who had managed to get onto the roof shot at him.

Donnie, Slash, Leatherhead, and Pete directed their attention to themselves, allowing Mikey the time he needed.

"You are no more than an irritation to Kraang," Prime yelled. "Your attempts are futile."

"Maybe mine are, but if we don't stop you, Utrom will," Mikey declared.

Kraang gritted her horrible, giant, daggerlike teeth with an unearthly, almost sawing noise. "Utrom are below Kraang, just like lowly humans!"

"Oh really? Is that why you had to recruit all those humans to fight for you? Because humans are inferior and you don't need anyone to help you defend yourself against the Utrom?"

Kraang roared and sent a series of psychic rings from her forehead.

Michelangelo knelt and clawed the ground as the burst shoved him back. By the time the attack had passed, he was on the edge of the roof again. Even from afar, Donnie saw bright red scrapes on his palms.

Donatello mentally screamed for Michelangelo to step forward, to ready himself for the next attack, but he just stood there, grinning.

"It doesn't matter how many people or Utrom you control. You aren't more powerful than them, and you never will be. All those soldiers you control? They might make your numbers strong, but they don't have something humans or mutants or Utrom have- their own minds." He looked at Donnie. "A team is so much stronger with people who think differently, with people who have their own skills and ideas and personalities. They make each other stronger." He smiled at Kraang. "Surround yourself with as many drones as you want. You're all alone."

Prime shot a blast at him.

Donatello sheathed his bo and ran. His mind raced, calculating exactly how many inches Michelangelo was from the edge, how long the blast would take to reach him, how many seconds he could fall before his grappling hook could no longer reach the roof.

Before the blast could even reach him, Michelangelo took a step back and jumped off.

Donatello skidded to a halt, a strangled sound erupting from his throat. His heart skipped several beats.

Then he noticed green hands latched onto the edge, and his brother's face rose up.

Michelangelo pulled himself halfway up and folded his arms on the edge of the roof, clasping his hands together as if he were having a pleasant conversation over a table or resting at the side of a pool, not dangling off a six hundred foot drop.

"Kraang does not need to listen to you!" She shot another burst of rings at Michelangelo, who grabbed the side and ducked out of sight until she was done again, at which point he pulled himself partially up.

"Can't get me!" He stuck his tongue out at her.

"Kraang is fine alone! Kraang is superior to all life forms!"

Michelangelo arched a brow. "Huh. And yet you haven't been able to defeat humans in the years and years you've been trying." He ducked out of the way as Kraang sent yet another attack at him.

"Stay still so Kraang can get you!"

Michelangelo blew a raspberry. "Come and get me!"

Prime roared and charged across the roof. She scuttled forward with squidlike limbs, opening her mouth to show off her monstrous teeth.

Then she stopped. Her giant eyes bulged. She looked at her limbs, then around at all her enemies.

Donnie let out an airy, almost unbelieving laugh.

She sat in the middle of the roof, right over the smashed vial of retromutagen.

"What?" She cried. "What is this?"

"That," Michelangelo said, pulling himself fully onto the roof, "Is retromutagen." He walked over to where Donatello stood. "One of Donnie's greatest accomplishments, making the top five of the list right under his speed pizza slicer."

Kraang shrieked and squirmed. Her cries pierced Donnie's eardrums with a sound worse than fingernails on a chalkboard.

He groaned and clapped his hands to his ears, trying to ease the chills running down his spine.

Prime began to shrink. The plates on her forehead disappeared, replaced with more brainy wrinkles.

Kraang screeched at them. They couldn't understand her. It was nothing more than the cries the aliens used when out of their robot bodies.

The robots the Mutanimals had been fighting slumped, then one by one, rebooted. They looked around, confused. Some dropped the lasers they had been holding upon realizing what they were.

Prime watched as the power she had worked centuries to maintain crumbled before her. Donatello thought he even saw a flicker of fear in her eyes.

Boy, did it feel good to wipe that smug grin off her face!

Donatello felt a tap on his shoulder and turned. He jumped and prepared to punch the Utrom standing behind him in the face, but quelled his instincts at the last moment.

The Utrom regarded him suspiciously for a moment, then tapped their robotic forefingers together. "Um… excuse me, I um…" The Utrom surveyed the scene around them and rubbed their neck. "Do you know… what just happened?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter Wednesday. Have a great day, y'all!


	30. Chapter 30

"You got what you wanted," Shredder growled. "Now tell me where the mutagen is."

"Not until I know Raph is safe," Leo replied. "I didn't agree to help you just to see him thrown right back into the middle of the battle."

Shredder narrowed his eyes, but when he said nothing more, Leonardo assumed it was an unspoken agreement.

They stared each other down for what seemed like forever.

Leo didn't move an inch, as if the slightest change would be all it would take for the master ninja in front of him to snap the truce's delicate spell. Standing in front of Shredder yet knowing he would not attack felt almost surreal.

He didn't know what he would do when the Footbots came back with proof of Raphael's safety. He had saved one of his brothers, but if he told Shredder the truth, he would be putting the other two in mortal peril.

That was, assuming they weren't already in that kind of danger. For all Leo knew, Michelangelo and Donatello could be-

He shook his head.

A battle cry rang out from beyond the door, followed by sounds of fighting. Clangs and crashes grew closer. Exactly how close, Leo couldn't say; the noise being muffled through the door, he couldn't accurately locate the source.

He got his answer a second later when Raphael threw the heavy door open.

Raph was covered in scratches, and the dirt smudged over him betrayed either he had tumbled a lot while fighting, or he'd fallen or been pushed down several times.

Leo hoped for the former, but a series of scrapes on the Raph's said he'd been thrown across the rough stone floor.

Raph panted and quickly searched the room with pupils the size of pinpricks. His eyes settled on Leo.

"Look out," Leonardo yelled, seeing the Footbots Raph had escaped running up behind him, weapons drawn.

Raphael caught a mace swung for his head without even looking. He picked the Footbot off its feet and chucked it into several others, making them all crumple and fall.

Not even half a second after the first had swung its mace, a second jabbed a sword at him. He caught it by the wrists, and planting a foot in the middle of its chest as a counterweight, ripped its arms clean off its torso, leaving sparking wires where its shoulders were supposed to be.

Raph pried the sword from its disconnected, twitching robotic hand, grabbed another Footbot by the neck, speared its metal skull with the sword, and kicked the third footbot into a fourth. The two bots stumbled backward into the wall, the momentum carrying the sword straight through the fourth's head and skewering them both to the wall.

Raphael raised his fists to his head and glared at Shredder's henchmen.

If his fighting weren't enough to cue Leo in, the blue-clad turtle could now see the rage boiling behind Raphael's eyes, could hear it in each heavy breath.

"Your brother bought you a chance at continuing your meaningless existence," Shredder growled. "You would be wise to take it."

"I'm not leaving without him," Raph yelled.

"Raph, go!"

"No. We stick together. No matter what!"

"Then you will die together!" Shredder said.

"So be it."

Shredder clenched his fists, causing his blades to shoot out from his gauntlets, and lunged towards Raphael.

Raphael was far enough from Shredder to see his attack coming, and ducked his blades. He rolled under Shredder's arm, tumbled onto his feet, and ran towards Leo.

"What are you doing? We can't take them all! We'll just get captured again!"

"Then fearless leader, why don't you call a tactical retreat?"

Leonardo started. He almost asked Raph if he was serious, but with Shredder and all his henchmen racing towards them, weapons drawn, he only had time to reach into his belt and throw a smoke bomb on the ground.

Raphael dropped a few more smoke bombs on the floor, filling the entire room with purple dust, grabbed Leo's arm, and practically hauled him to the door.

Raph pushed Leo in front of him once they were out of the room. "We're leaving."

Leonardo raised a brow. What did Raph think he would do?

They ran and ran and ran. Out of the building, into the street, onto the rooftops. They didn't stop to catch their breath until they were streets down and sure they weren't being followed.

Leo laughed, an airy sound coupled with his breathless wheezing. "We did it." He grinned at Raph.

"Yeah," Raphael muttered. He crossed his arms, refusing to meet Leo's eyes. "I guess we did."

"So, yeah. You were all mind-controlled by this uncool Kraang dude for a really long time," Michelangelo explained.

The recently-freed Utrom gathered around him, some still in their robot bodies, some having chosen to abandon the unfamiliar mechanical vessels.

The Utrom muttered amongst themselves. Some were skeptical, a few even still clutched their blasters close to them, eyeing Michelangelo, Donatello, and the Mutanimals suspiciously. A few cast disgusted glares at Kraang Prime, who sat cowering under Slash's and Leatherhead's guard. Mostly, the new Utrom just looked confused or distressed.

Many of them had questions, a lot of which Michelangelo had to admit he did not have the answer to- how long have we been controlled? What would happen if another one of us were to get mutated? What do we do now? Will we be able to return to our normal lives?

"How soon can you get here?" Donatello asked, clutching his phone to one ear and covering the other with his opposite hand. His brows shot up. "You mean like, right now-right now?"

A pink portal appeared in the middle of the roof, and Bishop, Queen, and Rook stepped out.

Bishop surveyed the trembling Kraang Prime, his humanoid disguise's nose wrinkling. "Is this her?"

"The one and only," Donatello said.

Kraang Prime struggled and screeched as Queen scooped her up.

"We will make sure she is dealt with," Bishop assured them. "I am forever in your debt for what you have accomplished today. The Utrom will forever remember your services."

"Glad to help," Donnie said. He looked around at the freed Utrom. "What are you going to do with them?"

Bishop pushed his shades up the bridge of his nose. "We will start by taking them back to dimension X. Then we will see how we can help them settle back into their normal lives."

"But there are secret Kraang bases all over the world," Donnie said. "How are you going to find them all?"

"When they were Kraang soldiers, their objective was to remain hidden. However, now they do not have this objective. They will be confused, and will make themselves known in their search for help. It should not be too difficult to locate them all."

Donnie nodded.

Bishop addressed the Utrom, some of whom had turned to him in curiosity upon his arrival. "Attention, Utrom. I am sure this is a shock to you all. But through this portal lies dimension X. Perhaps you would feel more comfortable learning about the recent events in your homeland?"

Bishop nodded at Donnie upon seeing the Utrom seemed unaggressive. "We have the situation under control. Feel free to continue doing what you need to."

"We should make sure Rockwell is alright," Slash said.

"Look." Leatherhead pointed over the edge of the roof to the ground far below.

Donatello walked to the edge.

A line of humans filtered out through TCRI's front door.

"Looks like he did just fine."

Donnie turned to Mikey. "We did it."

Michelangelo grinned and punched the air. "Yeah, boi! High three!"

Donatello, Michelangelo, and Splinter were talking in the lair's living room by the time Leonardo and Raphael crossed the turnstiles.

"Leo! Raph!" Mikey crashed into them, nearly bowling them over in a bear hug.

Donnie was right behind him, gap-tooth smile betraying his relief.

Splinter examined his sons for injuries.

They all had their fair share of cuts and bruises, some worse than others, but nothing more permanent than a few potential scars.

"I am relieved to see you all home safe," Splinter said, placing a hand on Leo's and Raph's shoulders. "How was your mission."

"Successful, Sensei," Leo reported. "We un-mutated the Shredder and destroyed the rest of his mutagen."

Raphael stared at the ground, teeth clenched.

Splinter was about to ask Raphael what was on his mind when Donatello said, "Wait. The Shredder got mutated?"

"Yeah," Leo replied. "It was like he could use his abilities to teleport. Thankfully, we stopped it before he could let his powers grow. Now tell me how things went for you."

"We used the retromutagen on Kraang Prime." Donatello noogied Michelangelo's scalp. "Thanks to your clever trap."

Michelangelo giggled, trying to free himself. "And your invention."

Donnie let Mikey go. "The Utrom are free from Prime's control now, and Bishop is going to take them back to dimension X to help them, and to decide what they'll do with Prime."

He gestured to the couch. "Looks like you have a few nasty scrapes. Why don't you let me treat them?"

Leonardo sat down and waited as Donatello picked a bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the floor, which he assumed Donnie had been using to treat Mikey's and his own abrasions.

Splinter sat Raphael beside him and began to clean his cuts.

Raph didn't look at Leo.

As the minutes ticked by, Michelangelo's and Donatello's elation slowly drained.

Donatello yawned as he put a band-aid over the last of Leo's open wounds. Now that the adrenaline had seeped away, the bags under his eyes became more visible.

"You look exhausted, my son," Splinter noted, finishing dressing the last of Raph's cuts.

"Yeah, I think by this point, we all are."

Splinter nodded. "No training for the next few days. Take as long as you need to rest."

"Right," Raph said, practically jumping up. "I'm going to my room."

"Raphael?" Splinter said. "This is a time for celebration. You seem unhappy."

"You just said to rest," Raph replied, continuing to walk away. "I'm tired." He slammed his door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter on Sunday. Have a great day, y'all!


	31. Chapter 31

Raphael woke with a gasp and shot upright in his bed. His head jerked around as he looked for the scene of a battle he was no longer in.

Right. They were home. They had won.

The red-clad turtle rubbed his eyes. His fingertip and thumb came to rest on what would be the bridge of his nose were he human, and he took a long, shaky breath.

Raph collapsed back onto his pillow and stared at the ceiling. He pulled his T-phone from his belt and clicked it on. The lockscreen's clock told him it was early morning, earlier than he would be up on a usual day, let alone one without training. What time had they gotten home last night, again?

Raphael's sore muscles begged him to stay still; his tired eyes and foggy brain said he hadn't yet gotten enough sleep.

Nevertheless, he pushed the covers aside and stood. Better to be a little tired than to relive… that.

He exited his room and tiptoed down the hall. No use in waking his brothers; they were bound to be just as tired as him after the entire ordeal, and probably weren't dealing with nightmares. They hadn't seen what Leo had done, after all.

Deciding a snack might take his mind off the nightmare and wake him up a little, Raph headed for the kitchen. Something small wouldn't spoil his appetite before Mikey made breakfast for them, especially if he slept in as late as Raphael suspected he would.

Which, apparently, he wouldn't, Raph discovered when he brushed the cloth kitchen door aside to find all three of his brothers.

Leonardo turned to him when he noticed his presence. "Oh. Good morning. We didn't wake you, did we?"

Raph shook his head. He sat beside Donnie, who nursed a cup of coffee, looking half-dead, and shot a glance at Mikey, who was quietly frying pancakes over the stove.

It was then the silence hit him. The lair had been devoid of its usual liveliness for quite some time, but he'd always been able to drown it out concerning himself with his brothers. Find out why Donnie seemed okay with hurting himself with the hook swords. Make sure Leo wasn't freaking out too much. Try to figure out why Mikey was so unenthusiastic. But now those things should be cleared up, shouldn't they? The guys had talked everything out. They should be laughing and joking, celebrating their victory. No more dealing with the Kraang. Defeating Prime should have been a heaping burden lifted off their shoulders, and yet here they were, sitting in silence after having freed themselves of a weight they'd carried for ages. Listening to the crackling of the frying pan.

They must be tired, Raph reasoned. "Shouldn't you all be asleep?"

Leo raised a brow. "You should, too." He shrugged. "But no. None of us could get more than a few hours. Just felt wrong somehow."

"Yeah," Mikey said, turning the stove off. He placed a stack of steaming, golden-brown pancakes in the middle of the table and shoved one into his mouth. "Like sumthinths still esspected oth usth." He finished the pancake and piled a few more onto his plate before topping it with an unholy amount of syrup. "Like, I know we beat the Kraang and all and Shredder's back to square one, but something just doesn't feel… complete. Like I'm forgetting something."

"Is there anything you left unsaid while you were in the containment? Anything else you wanted to get off your chest?"

Mikey squinted at his pancakes. "Ummmm… I don't think so? Um… I love you guys," he offered. "That's pretty important, but I don't think that's quite it."

Leo chuckled and rubbed his head. "Love you, too, little brother." His expression turned serious. "But you're right. I think something went unaddressed. It felt like the fight wasn't completely over, and that's why none of us were able to get much rest. We're still on guard."

Raphael stared at the stack of pancakes, suddenly no longer hungry.

They were still uneasy, and it was because of him. Something clawed at his gut. If only he'd said something while they offered him the chance. Didn't he ever make the right choice?

Raph stood and made for the door.

"Raph?" Mikey called after him.

"It's early for breakfast," he said. "I'm not used to being hungry this time of day."

Despite his exhaustion, Raphael's punches on the training dummy grew more and more powerful.

The figure swayed limply with every blow, head and limbs toppling forward as its torso swung back.

Raph executed a fast combo of punches, elbow strikes, and a few kicks, managing to pack enough force to knock it into its own supporting post. He stopped and watched the dummy rock back into place, its cloth head lolling on an unsupporting neck.

A football helmet and stitched-on face didn't hide its lifelessness. The training tool was helpless against attack.

Beating the dummy quickly grew unsatisfying. There was nothing interesting about picking a fight time and time again Raph knew he would always win.

He clenched and unclenched his fists, watching it rock faster and faster until it stilled. Then he threw all his weight into an elbow strike in the dummy's stomach, and it came free of its hook and splashed into the pool. He watched it sink out of sight.

Knowing it would deteriorate if not fished out soon, he sighed and sat along the water's edge, preparing to push himself into the pool.

"You should be letting yourself recover. That was a long fight, you know. You'll be really sore."

Raph looked up to find Leo standing over him. He turned his head away upon seeing Leo looking at where he'd been struck by the butt of the laser. It was his worst wound, as Leo's was the one on his shoulder, which he'd gained by trying to push Raphael to safety from the laser.

He felt the weight of Leo's stare on him even after he turned away.

"Besides, Donnie would have a fit if you went into that water with open wounds."

Raphael decided not to point out that Leo would, too.

Leonardo sat beside him on the edge of the pool and dipped his feet in the water. "I'll get it." He started to push himself off."

"Woah, woah, woah!" Raph barred his arm across Leo's chest. "What makes you think Donnie won't be mad at you if you go swimming in sewer water?"

"I don't have as many cuts as you," Leo said, "and I'll clean them again after."

Raphael glanced at the wound on Leo's shoulder, angry red still visible around the edges of its dressing. That was his fault. If it got infected because he wasn't careful with his dummy, well, that would just be adding insult to injury. Or, rather, infection to injury.

"No way. If I can't get it, then neither can you."

Leo pushed Raph's arm aside. "Well, someone has to get it. It'll get all gross if it stays down there."

"And why should it be you? Cause you're the leader?"

Leonardo narrowed his eyes. "Well, since you said so nicely, maybe it is."

"So if I were leader, you'd let me go down and get it?"

Leo glared at him. "I thought we were over this."

"No, really. If I was leader, would you let me go get it?"

"I don't think things would change much," Leo said.

"Then why should I let you make me stay here?"

"You could get hurt."

"So could you."

"Yeah, but not-"

Raph stood abruptly and swore aloud. "I'm getting real tired of you pulling this crap, Leo."

"I'm sorry, this wouldn't have happened if you had been a little more careful!"

Raphael laughed. "I was being careful! I tried so hard to keep myself under control, to keep you all safe, and after all that, after all I did, you still-" He froze, eyes growing wide with the realization of what he had just said. When had this stopped being about the dummy?

Leo stood. "Woah, what are you talking about?"

Raphael crossed his arms. Or maybe he was hugging himself. Whatever. "Forget it."

"Raph." Leo reached for his uninjured shoulder. "It's alright. You can tell-"

"It's not alright!" Raph curled his fists. "You ignored what I said! Your plans are getting us hurt! They could get us killed! I'm sick of it!"

Leo started. "We came back with a few scrapes and bruises. With the situations we get into, that's to be expected; I don't think any plan could avoid that. But I listened to what you said earlier, and I thought I did a pretty good job of protecting you all. The situation was high-risk, but we all made it home safe. No one was in over their head. And I got you out when things got bad."

Raph shoved Leo back, nearly making him fall. "'Us' includes you, idiot!"

Leonardo regained his balance. "What?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want me to be grateful you had the Foot haul me away? Thank you, fearless leader, for making me watch you turn yourself over to Shredder as you had me dragged out. I really appreciated it!"

"But you were safe."

Raph cursed. "You didn't even give me a choice! I would die fighting by your side sooner than run away, and live knowing I could have done something!"

"I had the choice to give you your life!" Leo yelled. "Would you have chosen differently if it was me or Mikey or Donnie in there?"

Raphael cackled. "Oh, real interesting! Hmm, let me think about this for a sec." He scratched his chin. "Oh, wait, but here's one problem with that scenario. I never get to choose!"

Leo furrowed his brow.

"It's always, 'follow the leader, guys, he gets to make all the choices'. Leo wants to make us all leave so he can get himself flung off the top of TCRI? That's what's gonna happen! Leo wants to make us all leave so he can stay behind and wrestle Kraang Prime in the exploding Technodrome? That's what's gonna happen! Leo wants to fight Shredder by himself so he can end up in a three-month coma while the rest of us pray he clings onto life? That's what's gonna happen! Leo wants to go on a solo mission in space so he can fight some aliens and get himself killed? That's what's gonna happen! Your heart stopped! You were dead, Leo! Dead!"

Raph pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. "But, hey, it's okay! He's the leader! He can get himself killed as many times as he wants while the rest of us sit and watch and be good little brothers, like he ordered." He bit back something bubbling in his throat. "You know what, fearless? I hate that you were ever made leader. Hate it." Raph shook his head. "If I were leader, you'd never pull a stunt like that again."

Silence washed over them. Leo stood, staring, eyes wide.

Leonardo pulled himself together and cleared his throat. "Then… in that situation… what would you do?"

"At least give everyone a choice!" Raph yelled. "Flee or fight! But for some of us, sitting back and letting you die is worse than dying ourselves!"

Leo looked at the ground. A pause. "I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize-" He huffed. "I thought I was doing what was best. I protected you. I thought that was what you wanted."

Raph pulled his shoulders up around himself. "Yeah? Well, you thought wrong."

Leonardo put his hand on Raphael's uninjured shoulder.

Raphael turned his head away from it and stared at the ground.

"There's no telling what might happen in the future," Leo said. "Some of us might get hurt, some of us might even…" He paused. "But no matter what happens, I won't leave you behind again. I promise."

Raphael turned and met his gaze. "Stick together no matter what?"

Leonardo nodded. "No matter what."

Leo extended his hand.

Raphael took it and pulled Leonardo to him, wrapping an arm around his back for only a moment.

The gesture was so short someone observing might have mistaken the hug for a pat on the back, but Raphael was sure Leo would understand his unspoken thanks.

Raph examined the wound on Leo's shoulder. "I don't want you putting yourself at risk for me."

"No turtle left behind. That's our rule. That means we're coming after you if you get in trouble, too."

Raph shifted in place.

Leo raised an eyebrow. "The rules aren't going to be any different for you."

"But you, Donnie, and Mikey, you're all important to the team."

"And you're not?"

"You lead. Donnie's good with tech, Mikey's good with people. I'm just the one who rushes in and messes everything up. If you really need to sacrifice someone, it should be me."

Leo started. "What happened to stick together no matter what? No turtle left behind? Of course you're important!"

Raph threw his hands out. "Then why do I always mess things up? I rush into a fight, the enemy discovers us. So I tried to keep myself under control, and suddenly we're losing battles left and right. I can't do one, and I can't do the other, so what use am I? None! Less than none! I made all of you feel like trash, and even after you talked it out, you're still not back to normal! If I could just make the right decision for once! I never know what to do! I don't know how to fix this! I… I just don't know... what to-" He lost momentum towards the end of the sentence and hid his face from Leo's view. "You're all so collected. Why can't I just be like you?"

He hated the drops that collected in his eyes. He hoped Leo didn't catch the subtle shake of his shoulders. He hadn't meant to break down here. Not now, in front of the person he'd tried the hardest to keep a calm face for. He wanted to run for his room and lock himself in and never come out, but the weight of Leo's stare was fixing him to the ground.

"Raph. You are so valuable to all of us. I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner, but…" Leo stepped closer to him. "Once you tried to be less aggressive, everything fell apart. We couldn't keep up with the enemies surrounding us. I didn't give you enough credit because I thought you were just destructive, but once you started fighting more like the rest of us, we were in a lot more danger. And when the foot took you away, you let that aggression loose and got to me in time, and you knew when to call a retreat. You saved me. You were always protecting us. I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner."

Raphael still refused to look at him. He didn't want Leo to see his face; didn't want him to see the trails of moisture that ran down his cheeks.

"I think I was only focusing on when you don't know when to run. And you know what? It's when you're the one in danger. I think you scared me when you didn't watch for yourself. Let's stick together no matter what, leave no turtle behind. You are important. You protect us. When you aren't on a mission with us, I noticed Mikey and Donnie get anxious. Now I know why. They feel safe around you."

"Maybe they did," Raph muttered. "Until I made them feel like the scum of the Earth."

"Don't blame yourself," Leo said. "We all had a part in bringing each other down."

"I was so hard on Mikey and didn't even notice," Raph said, "And Donnie's been comparing himself to me for who knows how long."

Leo gave him a meaningful look. "Then you should clear things up."

Raphael hoped he was being discreet when he wiped his face dry before meeting Leo's gaze. If Leo noticed anything, he didn't say, and Raph was eternally grateful.

"Yeah," Raph mumbled. "I'm sure they've been upset long enough." He walked past Leo and stopped. He turned around, pulled Leo into another hug, this one not cut short, and continued on his way.

Once he was sure his eyes no longer showed any redness, Raphael walked into the lab.

Donatello sat at his desk, scribbling something on a piece of paper, tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth. He looked up when Raph stood across the desk from him.

"Aren't you a little burned out?" Raph asked, indicating the paper.

"Oh. No, the whole mutagen thing completely fried my brain. This is basic. Just something to do." He tapped the page, which Raph could see was a sketch of a machine he didn't recognize.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Raph said.

"I tried. Couldn't much." Donatello picked a mug of coffee out from amongst his various vials and beakers and took a sip.

"Uh-huh."

Donnie lifted his eyes to meet Raphael's. "I honestly could not sleep. I did try."

Raph searched his expression. He wasn't avoiding Raphael's gaze or talking around the conversation like he did when Raph brought up the hook swords. Donatello had honestly done everything he could at the moment to take care of himself.

Raphael accepted Donnie's reply with a nod.

Donnie went back to scribbling on his page.

Raph watched him for a few moments, curiously examining the changes he made to the diagram.

Donatello stopped and tapped his pencil against the desk, biting his lip. He turned to Raphael. "I, um… I'm sorry. I know you were just looking out for me. I shouldn't have yelled at you. It was really brave of you to come talk to me; I shouldn't have pushed you away."

Raph hummed. "Well, at least you have some common sense in that big genius brain of yours."

Donnie looked unsure of how to take that at first, but seemed to swell at Raph's admiration of his intellect.

Good. He deserved to take some pride in his work. His brain was just as valuable as Raph's muscle.

"So, what are you working on?"

"Ah, I'm just thinking about putting some upgrades on the Shellraiser's defenses. As I'm designing this, I'm realizing that most of its purposes are just repeats of things I've already installed, but it still does have its uses. This will probably be a first-draft design; I'll probably work out a more efficient design later when my mind's a little clearer."

"We should probably do something later today that doesn't involve too much brainpower. Hang out."

Donatello smiled at the offer. "Yeah. That sounds nice."

Raph redirected his attention to the sketch. "So what exactly is this thing?" He indicated a series of switches on a particular part of the diagram.

"I'm thinking about adding that to increase the accuracy of the Shrellraiser's weapons. You see, each of these switches corresponds with one of the weapons we use- the garbage canon, the manhole cover canon, et cetra. It would be sort of a computer-controlled accuracy system that auto-locks the weapon to its target."

"And you know how to program that?" Raph asked.

"Of course. I programed Metalhead, didn't I? It's several steps down, difficulty-wise."

"That's really cool," Raph said.

Donnie raised his eyebrows.

"Seriously. Name another fifteen-year-old who can do stuff like that. You've really got something to be proud about, Donnie."

Donatello searched Raph's expression for any insincerity, and finding none, smiled to himself.

"So what does this do?" Raph pointed out a small circle in the middle.

Donatello laughed. "That's a screw, silly! It holds things together."

Raphael shrugged. "I'm not really good with this tech-y stuff. Could you walk me through it?"

"Really?"

"Really."

Donnie hummed and started at the top of the sketch. "This antennae is, of course, to communicate signals. I chose this method of technological communication because inside the Shellraiser, other methods might be incompatible due to the interference caused by…"

Donatello rambled on and on about his invention. Somewhere along the line, he got excited and seemed to forget he needed to use more common words for Raph's understanding, but Raph didn't mind. Donnie sounded happy.

***

A while later, a very confused Raphael walked out of the lab trying to make sense of all the jargon and theorems Donnie used. He made his way towards the bedrooms, knowing he still had one more stop to make to clear everything up.

He was excited to get this over with, yet dreaded actually doing it.

On the bright side, Michelangelo was always one to jump at any chance for peace the moment the opportunity appeared. On the bad side, he wouldn't pick up hints as well as Donatello did. Raphael would have to talk things out with him, instead of apologizing through friendly gestures and small talk.

Raphael mused he could apologize to him that way, were it a minor problem he'd caused. Raph had repaired his and Mikey's relationship in the past that way, offering to hang out after a fight or saying sorry for not listening to him by buying him an extra pizza. Mikey would understand that much, but Raphael couldn't communicate the depth of his regret through indirect means. He wanted this time to be different.

Even after Michelangelo had run away from the farmhouse, they hadn't actually talked. Raph had played video games with Mikey whenever his little bro asked for a while, but he didn't address the issue as well as he wished he would've. Mikey was hurt, and no one had stopped to ask why.

Raph wanted this time to be different. Now that Mikey had told them all what was really bothering him, he wanted to make sure his brother knew he was going to make sure things changed for the better, that there wouldn't be some half-hearted apology before everything fell right back into the way it had been.

Which left the question of what exactly Raph was going to say.

Michelangelo's door was always halfway open, inviting his family and friends to come and talk to him, to hang out and play.

Raphael looked inside to see the orange-clad turtle lying on his bed, playing with his action figures.

He wasn't getting as into it as he usually did, but he wasn't as apathetic about his game as he had been when Raph had come to check up on him a few days ago, either.

Raphael took this for a good sign.

He opened the door the rest of the way, the sound attracting Michelangelo's attention, and he stepped inside.

"Whattup?" Mikey asked.

Raph cleared his throat and shifted. He'd already managed being all feels-y twice this morning. He could do it again. "Listen, buddy. I was thinking about what you said? And, um…" He sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. "I'm sorry. I love you. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Mikey started, blinked.

Raph held his breath in silence, trying to gauge Michelangelo's reaction. A short apology, but a powerful one nonetheless. If that didn't work, he had really messed up.

To his relief, Michelangelo smiled, then broke into an all-out, bright, goofy grin, one that until that moment, Raphael hadn't realized had been absent for so long. "I love you, too, bro!"

Before he could process the movement, Michelangelo had his arms wrapped around him, practically clinging onto him.

Raphael almost protested, but on the other hand, Mikey had been upset for so long, and no one was watching.

Raph freed his arm from Mikey's grasp and patted his little brother's head with a smile.

"Okay, that's enough."

Michelangelo reluctantly let him go.

"So what are you doing?"

"The evil Malfidor has an evil plan to put an end to Crognard and his friends," Michelangelo whispered dramatically, wiggling his fingers evilly to emphasize the evilness of it all. "But he will stand no chance against…" He punched the Crognard toy in his hand into the air. "Crognard the Barbarian!"

Raph chuckled, picked the Malfidor figure off Mikey's bed, and sat in its place. "Not if I have anything to say about it!" He said in what he hoped Michelangelo would interpret as an evil voice. "Crognard the Barbarian and his friends will have to go through me first in order to stop my evil plan! Mwahahahahah!"

Mikey flopped down beside him, proudly lifting Crognard beside Malfidor. "So be it! Crognard always overcomes evil!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAST chapter on Tuesday. I can't believe we're already at the end. :(


	32. Chapter 32

Leonardo sensed the uneasy air lifting by the middle of the day. By that evening, he, Michelangelo, and Donatello were all sitting on the couch, talking and laughing as if there had never been any strain. While he hadn't seen Raphael sort anything out with their younger siblings, he mused the red-clad turtle must have. Everything was so much lighter.

Donatello and Michelangelo were currently bouncing ideas back and forth about what Donnie could work on next now that his schedule was so much freer. Most of Michelangelo's ideas were impractical or even unattainable, but Donatello was able to sift through his thoughts and pick out the bits of creative genius he could use. With the two of them working together, Donatello had half a notebook full of new, useful plans in no time, and was scribbling wildly at the next pages, trying to capture his thoughts before they escaped.

"I think that's enough for now," Donnie said, a little reluctantly, jotting down a few last notes. "This is enough to keep me busy for a few weeks." He shut the notebook with a hum. "I guess my hook sword training will have to wait a while longer."

"Your training?"

Donatello jumped and whipped around. "Oh. Hi, Sensei." He stood and walked up to Splinter. "I was wondering if you'd train me to use the hook swords. You know, as a side project." He tapped the spine of the notebook. "I think it would be good for efficiency and safety, especially with how often my bo staff breaks, but I think I'd only want to work on it when I didn't have anything to do in the lab, seeing my work is of use to the team." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I know that might not work out, depending on how much time I can spend on it, but…"

"I would be glad to train you," Splinter said. "I'm proud of you, for learning not to be dependent on only one weapon." He put a hand on Donatello's shoulder. "And even more proud, for deciding to put your safety in high regard. I will start you on a wooden version of the weapon, whenever that may be. I will be glad to help expand your arsenal, however consistent or inconsistent your training may be. It is good you understand your usefulness in your scientific pursuits, as well."

"Thank you, Sensei."

The two bowed to each other, then Splinter returned to the dojo.

Donatello produced his bo and examined it thoughtfully.

"Whatcha thinkin'?" Michelangelo asked, peering up at him from his position upside-down on the couch.

"It will be a while until I'll be able to take the swords out again seeing all my upcoming projects, and even then, my bo staff will be my primary weapon. I wonder if I could keep it from breaking as much." He gave it a twirl. "Coat it in something protective that won't make it inflexible or heavy. I _did_ just go through researching every material on Earth, after all. If I go back through my notes, there should be something that can help me."

Leonardo nodded. "Sounds like a good idea." He gave Donatello a meaningful look. "But like Master Splinter said, we're all glad you're taking your training at a reasonable pace."

Leo turned when he heard footsteps approach.

Raphael stopped by the couch and cleared his throat. "Why don't you take a break from your lab and stuff for a while, though? Something that doesn't take much thinking. Mikey suggested a movie earlier."

Leonardo hummed. "Movie night sounds good."

Donatello sat down, set his notebook aside, and stretched. "I'm in."

"What should we watch?" Leo asked.

Raphael shifted. "Well, you said something a while ago about wanting to rewatch the third Space Heroes movie."

Leo started. He almost told Raph that they should watch something he would enjoy, too, but caught himself. This was Raph's way of making amends. Even if Raphael thought the movie was cheesy, he would be happier if Leo accepted, so he asked Mikey and Donnie if they were up for it.

"Yeah, sure," Donnie said, raising a brow at Raph.

Michelangelo jumped up. "We need snacks! Lots of them!"

"I think we have a watermelon in the fridge," Donnie said.

"I'll come, too. Make popcorn," Leo offered, standing up. His cheeks grew warm at his three brothers' collective stares. "What? I'm not _that_ bad! I can microwave popcorn!"

He frowned when Michelangelo sighed and shook his head.

"Okay, come on," the youngest said, gesturing for Leo for follow him into the kitchen.

Donatello and Raphael chose to tag along.

Leo picked a few bags of popcorn out of the cupboard as Mikey got the watermelon and a cutting board and placed them on the counter.

He tossed the bags into the microwave and watched Mikey cut the melon, hoping to pick up some details of how his baby brother worked. Maybe he could learn to cook a little better by watching?

Michelangelo spun the watermelon as he cut down its middle. As he was making another cut, the watermelon rocked forward, sliding the board out of place and nearly causing him to bring the knife down on his hand.

He steadied it with a mutter of "Well, that wasn't good, let's not do that."

"You're supposed to put a damp cloth under it," Donatello said.

Michelangelo looked up. "What?"

"A cloth under the cutting board can give it extra traction."

Mikey stared at him, blinked. Then he picked a kitchen towel out from their supply, ran it under some water, wrung it out, put the cutting board over it, and continued cutting.

The four returned to the living room with slices of watermelon and burnt popcorn. Donatello and Leonardo sat on the couch, and Michelangelo and Raphael settled in front of them in the TV pit.

The movie started with the gripping action sequence Leo knew started every Space Heroes episode and movie. He grinned like the dork he was when Captain Ryan made his first appearance onscreen, heroic as always.

Even Raph seemed to be paying attention to the movie for the first while.

Mikey looked like he enjoyed the character scenes, even pointing out details about the characters and making plausible theories based on their personalities Leo hadn't considered. He seemed very intrigued about who the people were emotionally, and when he spoke on it, Leo thought the tone of his rant sounded familiar, but couldn't quite place why. Then he realized; Mikey sounded a lot like Donnie when he got passionate about his science.

Towards the end of the movie, his brothers' attention started drifting, but Leo didn't mind. When he pulled his gazed away from the screen, he noticed Michelangelo snuggled up against Raphael's plastron. Whether Raph hadn't pushed him away was because Mikey had been gradual enough for him not to notice or because he'd called this a special occasion and dropped his tough demeanor, Leo couldn't tell.

Either way, he deemed it safe, and lowered himself to sit beside Raphael in the pit.

Raphael made a show of protesting, but they both knew he didn't mean it.

Leo looked back to find Donnie considering the three of them, and waved him over.

After casting a cautious glance at Raphael, Donatello left the couch to lay against Leo's plastron.

Leo curled an arm around his shoulder and continued watching the movie.

Unsurprisingly, Donatello was the first to fall asleep, finally giving his genius brain a break and letting his exhaustion overcome him.

Leo reached for the remote slowly as not to disturb him and turned the sound down.

Michelangelo put his arm around Donnie just below Leo's, looked around at his older brothers, and nodded against Raphael's chest. His soft, peaceful snores soon joined Donatello's.

Leonardo pried his eyes away from the screen again to find Raphael looking down at their slumbering little brothers, a smile in his eyes.

When he caught Leo looking, he quickly redirected his attention to the screen.

"Softie," Leo mouthed.

Raphael, having his arms trapped, twisted to headbutt Leonardo's uninjured shoulder.

Leonardo chose not to point out that Raph's refusal to free his arm for fear of waking his brothers only proved his point.

Once the action of the movie came to a halt, leaving only the calmer (less interesting, in Raph's opinion) resolution, Raph's chin dipped to rest on Michelangelo's head, and he slumped against Leo's side.

Leonardo turned the TV off and glanced around at his brothers. He could already feel himself drifting, soothed by their snores, a constant reminder they were all alive and well.

But before he could drift off, he took a moment to look at each of them in turn.

To Michelangelo, who he vowed would be better listened to.

To Donatello, who he vowed would be better appreciated.

To Raphael, who he vowed would be better understood.

With that, he hugged them tighter, and let himself, along with the whole ordeal, go to rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exactly one year later, and here we are. I can't believe it's already done. :(  
> Thank you to everyone who supported me to this point. The comments really kept me writing; really let me know someone cared about my work. So thank all of you.  
> That being said, I'd like to hear what you thought about the story overall, constructive criticism welcome.  
> I had a few ideas for some other fics while writing this one, so expect them... sometime? Maybe? Heh, don't count on it. I'll get around to them eventually.  
> So... yeah. Take care of yourselves. Go get some water if you haven't in a while. Brighten someone's day, give them a compliment. Remember, people care about you. Don't be hard on yourself for not being like everyone else, everyone comes with their individual strengths and weaknesses. While you might be looking down on yourself for being inadequate in one area, someone is looking up to you for your strength in another. Be yourself. Don't worry if you don't exactly know who "yourself" is-- it's not something to find, it's something you create with each new experience, a picture you keep on painting, you never stop adding details. You are important, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Even if you can't see your own strengths sometimes, there are people who do. They are there. No one else is exactly like you. Embrace that. Take care of yourself. For what it counts, I care about you.  
> So, um... yeah. I think that's it. Until next time. Have a wonderful day, y'all.


End file.
